1931-1996 Richard Clair Hardy 

Richard Clair Hardy was born August 25, 1931 to Vida Adelia and Merlin Heber Hardy in Las Vegas, Nevada.   He was the third and last child of Vida and Merlin.  His brother's were Scott Merlin, born 18 Oct 1925 and Martin Earl born 3 Apr 1927.  Richard was born on the anniversary of his parent's wedding which was the 25 August 1924 (they had eloped). 

About the elopement Vida's father Joseph Ira Earl had written this in his journal. "To our surprise, Vida got married to Merlin Hardy while we were in the city.  Merlin is a good young man.  We are pleased with Vida's choice for a husband."  They were married in Panquitch, Utah by a Justice of the Peace with Merlin's brother Dudley and his wife Vera as witnesses.  Merlin was 32 and Vida 29 and he had waited and waited for her for years while she tended to her family and a nursing career.  In a letter to her father as to why they did not plan a wedding in the Temple, Merlin said, "It is very hard to make an apology, but when Vida gave her consent to be my little bride, I couldn't see how I could afford to put it off to see her folks.  I felt as though a later date would be to late."...  "Bishop, I can assure you that I love her with my whole heart and soul; more than any girl I have ever known...we planned on going to the Temple sometime in the fall, and there is no question but what we will take care of that part of it...I will do all in my power to make her happy."  They were married in the Temple on January 6, 1925.

Richard's father died when Richard was only 11 years old and this had a lasting affect on him.   The passing of Merlin was perhaps, not unexpected as he had been ailing and there was a family history of heart problems.  Nonetheless it was very devastating to the family.   Richard remembered well when it happened.    He had been at a Primary program practice at the Church when he had a strange feeling come over him.  He remembers sitting very quiet and pensive while all the children around him were making lots of noise.  Soon one of the leaders came and told him he was needed at home and he should go immediately.  It was just a block or so away.  When he arrived home he found out his father had died and years later he would still say it had happened just at the time when he had those strange uncertain feelings come over him.  Uncles stepped in to do the things his father would have done and the extended family in Las Vegas was a great help to his mother in raising her three boys alone.  Still she would write notes for some time to Merlin expressing her great loss at his death.  She rented rooms in their home and had other rentals as well.  Her brothers, who were lawyers, kept her supplied with clients who needed six weeks residence in order to get a divorce. 

Richard's brother Martin had said that "Richard seemed less headstrong and more sympathetic and communicative with his mother than either Scott and Martin were.  This close relationship between Mother and Richard was also a very supportive thing for her.  He remained very close to Mother for the rest of their lives."

Richard graduated from Las Vegas High in May, 1949.  He had graduated from Primary and received his Individual Priesthood Awards each year and was a Senior Scout and a member of the Air Squadron 104 in Las Vegas.  It is very evident from letters from Richard to his Mother over the years after leaving Las Vegas that Richard tried very hard to please his Mother and be the son she wanted him to be.  Vida was well aware of her role of both Father and Mother in his life.

After high school Richard attended BYU for one year where he was very active in Brigadiers, a social unit.  He decided to join the Navy because he did not have enough money to continue in college and maintain the type of social life he enjoyed.  After two years in the Korean War he was able to come back to BYU under the GI bill and he again attended BYU.

In 1955 Richard was called to the Spanish American Mission and served in Texas for two and a half years.  His mother had never given up on her dream to see Richard on a mission.  She was an inspiring influence in his life. The last year of his mission he was the Branch President in Alice, Texas.  This was when Richard knew he loved planning, organizing and managing and he did it well.   He also became proficient in Spanish and learned to love the Spanish people.  It was always his desire to serve another mission, perhaps in Mexico or South America.

                                                   

Returning to BYU he now managed Brigadiers and had that great social life he wanted.  He graduated from BYU in 1959 in Accounting and Finance and joined the firm of Central Federal in San Diego that summer.  He had recently broken up with another girl in a string of girls and so did not find his mate at BYU.  One of the girls in the 4th Ward in San Diego decided he was just right for Janet Anderson who had also just broken up with a non-member and told him she would get him a date as soon as Janet returned from summer school at BYU.  



Janet was a Kindergarten teacher in San Diego.  however, because 4th Ward was full of eligible bachelors who were serving their Navy time after missions Janet was dating other guys as soon as she returned and Richard kept getting turned down.  This was all Richard needed to decide she was the one and they were married six weeks after their first date.  Interestingly, they also eloped, much as Richard's parents had except Richard's brother Scott found out the plan and brought his mother and family down and presented them with a dinner and cake in a rented room at a hotel after their marriage vows were taken.  This was on October 23, 1959 and they only had a weekend as both had to be back at work on Monday morning.   They lived in east San Diego near Janet's school until Janet's last year of teaching was completed.

Moving to the Pacific Beach Ward area Richard became Elders Quorum President and then a Counselor in the Bishopric.  After that most of his service was as the Ward or Stake Executive Secretary or a counselor in the Bishopric until he was called to the High Council.  He did not enjoy this role as much as he liked to be “hands on” in serving the Lord.

After leaving Central Federal as an appraiser he worked for Mansfield Mills, an investment counsel firm, where he soon became their manager and learned how to do marketing through letters.  He loved this aspect of business.  Richard was an extremely hard worker and it was during this time that Richard had his first heart attack and “died on the surgery table”.  Thanks to prayers and blessings he survived but was told he needed to change his lifestyle.  When this business was sold and he had a non-compete agreement he learned the second trust deed business with Jones Mortgage.  Richard enjoyed this business very much and was able to bring his expertise of letter writing and advertisement to the business and soon became a partner.  It worked very well until the recession in the early 80’s .  Richard had established Help-U-Sell Real Estate to help manage foreclosures and it became a very frantic, desperate time and they needed to branch out into brokering of first mortgages as well.  This is when Janet came into the business to help.  Richard eventually formed his own business, Choice Mortgage, which he managed as well as Help-U-Sell Real Estate.

Richard and Janet were blessed with their first child Johnny ten months after marrying.  Janet had been able to complete one more year of teaching kindergarten and then became a full time mother and they bought their first home just before the second child Linda arrived.  Within four years Maria and James were also in the family   When the youngest was three they moved to La Jolla where they lived until the youngest James had completed his mission.  In 1988 they moved to Rancho Bernardo which was to be their retirement home.  Richard had a five way bypass surgery during this move and his final heart attack in 1996 when  Richard was age 65.  He never was able to retire.



Family was extremely important to Richard.  He always wanted to attend the Hardy and Earl Reunions in Las Vegas and spent many a weekend in Las Vegas catching up on what was happening with the Scott Hardys after their father died.  He loved the summer trips with all the family to Big Bear Lake and the winter trips to Park City skiing.  He loved taking the children to the amusement parks and all the things he had missed as a child.  He always wanted all of his brothers’ families to be part of his life and started the Hardy Reunions at Torrey Pines Park.  He loved planning them and urging everyone to come.  His brother Martin fully supported him in his efforts.  He honored his parents, his brothers as well as the wives of he and his brothers with programs at these reunions.  He wanted all the grandchildren to know about their family.  He was tireless in these efforts.

You would not find Richard on the golf course or lounging around the house.  His only recreation was a few ski runs at Christmas with his grandchildren.  The rest of the time he was “at work” usually from 7 to 9 and sometimes longer.  His clients loved it because he would “drop-in” on the way home from work and apprise them of what was happening in the trust deed business and perhaps sell them a new investment.  He was always one on one with his clients and very close to them.  This was his  greatest expertise and would later be his downfall.  In the late 80’s he invited some friends to come in and speak to his clients about investments in the Bakersfield and Tulare area.  Many of his clients purchased these investments.  When the investment turned sour they urged Richard to take over and because he wanted to serve them, he took the project on.  It was too far away and a disaster from the beginning and although Richard ended up in saving most of his clients, his own financial resources became depleted and his business at home suffered.  It dragged on until after he passed away.  But as one of the escrow officers said, “If he had just had a little more time, it would have all been completed.”  It was an unfortunate ending to an otherwise exceptionally excellent business career.



In fact, Richard was really an extraordinary man because as busy as he was he was never too busy to give time to those in need. Over the years there was a trail of relatives and others less fortunate that Richard had either taken into his home or gone to them and helped with jobs, financing on cars, advise, or whatever was needed.  Janet once counted 29 people who had lived with them for over 3 months or more in a ten year period.  And this doesn’t include the countless others he has helped.  His friends and family knew to “just ask Richard”.  Janet often said no matter what time of day or night, no matter how tired Richard was, if Janet needed anything Richard always said, “No problem, I can take care of it.”  He was always ready to give of himself.  Expressions of love and appreciation after his death were “gentle, honest, kind, hard worker, always going beyond the call of duty”.  One man said he was a prince in this world and too good for it, the world could not be what he wanted it to be.

In 2015 Richard had a posterity of four children, 15 grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.  His wife Janet lives in Lake Almanor, CA and his son John passed away in 2004 of a heart attack.

In January 2015 we scattered the ashes of John at Bathtub Rock and told stories about him at Torrey Pines Beach, and  met at the graveside of Richard and told stories about him.  These are some of the pictures that were taken of Richard's children, grandchildren and great grandchildren at those locations and other places that week.  This was my Christmas Card for 2015 about the Richard Hardy Family.

And in 2017 I made the following Christmas Card:

In 2022 the number of great-grandchildren has risen to 13!!  Meagan and Matt have Keira, Eden and Nico and live in Scripps Ranch.  Sarah is married to Ethan, both in college and institute in Provo, Orem.  Kelly and Collin have a son Rowan and moving to Las Vegas.  Amy and Joe have Charli, Harper and Calvin and live in West Virginia.  Tanner and Marissa have Cowan and live in Las Vegas.  Kristi and Mike have Kate, Ryan, Brynn and Molly and live in Henderson.  Mitch and Bahia have Khamsin and live on Scenic Beach in Washington State.  Melissa and Ethan live in North Carolina.  Craig is in Los Angeles.  Mike is in San Marcos.  Matt is in Reno.  Jacob is in Hawaii at college. Lea, Jimmy and Kelsi are in Carlsbad and that is the whereabouts of the 15 grandchildren.  James and Camber and Linda and Gary live in Carlsbad, Maria and Johnny live in La Jolla.  And that is the whereabouts of the 3 children.

Janet sold the Lake Almanor home and rented in Rancho Bernardo in 2020-2021 and then Treeo Residential in Orem, Utah for 2021-2022 where her sisters Jeanne and Marilyn live and will be living in Carlsbad, Ca with Linda and Gary from 2023.