of Mountain View, AR

April 20, 1934 - December 10, 2021

Rudolph ''Rudy'' John Hardy
On Friday, December 10, 2021 at 9:15 PM, the Hardy family lost their beloved husband, father, brother, grandfather, great-grandfather, and friend. Rudy Hardy spent his life in a very unassuming hero's way. Everyone that knew him knew he was a gentle giant; a giant in spirit and integrity.

Rudy was born in a small log house in a hollow in Beech Fork, West Virginia, on April 20, 1934. Rudy was the third of six; having been preceded in birth by Dewey and Charlotte and followed by Billy, Doris, and Margaret.
Rudy graduated from Big Creek High School in War, West Virginia in 1952 and from Concord College in Athens, West Virginia in 1959. Rudy worked briefly as a coalminer in West Virginia until football became his passion. He played football in grades 9 through 12; grade 9 at Berwind Junior High School and the latter three at BCHS under legendary coach Merrill Gainer. (The movie October Sky features BCHS and Coach Gainer as well as other major characters in Rudy's early life.) He then played football under scholarship for two years at Concorde College, and then for one year while serving in the Marine Corps. Later, injuries in his junior year at Concorde ended all participation in his favorite sport. While working as a civilian employee of the US Navy in California he was granted a Navy fellowship which led to a Master of Business administration degree obtained in one year of intensive study at California Lutheran College in Thousand Oaks, California. He then returned to work and continued an evening study program at California Lutheran which provided him with a Master of Arts in education. (MAE) degree two years later.

Rudy was retired from Government civil service with his wonderful wife Sue on the ridge near Mountain View, Arkansas where he considered himself a ''wannabe'' farmer with a handful of beef of cows and a few rows of blueberries. In Rudy's spare time he would fire up his computer and document fond memories of the past, write beautiful poetry on family, home, and county living along with over 40 songs that were recorded in Nashville, Tennessee. Rudy was community minded writing at times for the Stone County Leader newspaper. He was so honored to donate one acre of land for the new fire department in Mountain View, Arkansas. Rudy loved the West Virginia Hills and had a longing for old roads that he traveled there. Rudy resided elsewhere because of his present love for a road that he traveled with his sweetheart Sue near her family roots in Mountain View, Arkansas. Rudy and Sue returned to West Virginia in August of each year for a reunion of Sparks family (mom's side) cousins and other close childhood friends.

Rudy is survived by his beautiful wife Clara Sue Hardy; his sons, Stephen Kirk Hardy and Jeffrey Dean Hardy; his grandchildren, Troi Hunter, Nicole Hardy, and Jennifer Schneider, and great-granddaughter Scarlett Hunter; his siblings, Dewey ''Junior'' Hardy, Billy Hardy, and Margaret Kefalas.
Everyone loved and respected Rudy because he was a content, honest, unselfish, strong man with beautiful morals and principles. You may be gone but never forgotten.

Visitation for Rudy is Friday, December 17, 2021 from 12:00-2:00 PM at Roller Crouch Chapel in Mountain View, Arkansas. Funeral services will begin at 2:00 PM with Pastor Paul Mize and Reverend Don Campbell officiating. Interment will follow at the Historic Cemetery of Mountain View in Mountain View, Arkansas.

Military honors will be provided by the Stone County Honor Guard.

Pallbearers are Kirk Hardy, Eric Mitchell, Weston Mitchell, Clint Clark, Jason Miller, and Eric Ogden.

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