Grandchildren enrich Hardie’s life

During the 1970's, an important dimension of Hardie’s life was his two grandchildren. They represented the culmination of a life of loving and caring. He enjoyed phone calls and mail from them and would put aside professional obligations when we would come for a weekend visit. When we were in Connecticut, he would usually take them for a walk, and my husband, Ken, recalls the time they came back from one such outing:

"Five-year-old Andrew ran on ahead, calling out excitedly, 'Daddy, Daddy, we had a wonderful adventure! Me and grandpa saved a turtle!' Then he proceeded to relate how they'd found a snapping turtle stranded upside down in a nearby stream and turned it over with a huge stick to send it on its way. Three-year-old Tina and Hardie, trailing behind, were deeply engrossed in a conversation that belied the sixty-two year gap in their ages."

After a walk, Hardie would take his grandchildren up to his studio to paint, and he would often write down a snatch of conversation, something he had heard them say. (Andrew became an art major at Bates College and went on to own Tenrec Inc., a web design firm in San Francisco, and Tina used art therapy in her career as a social worker before becoming a stay-at-home mom, so their grandfather and his influence and love continue to be very important to them.)