William Hardy

William Orland Hardy was born to Edith (Hittle) Hardy and Leroy Leonard Hardy on July 3, 1921, on the family farm near Centerville, Kansas in Linn County, Kansas. He attended Georgetown Rural School through the eighth grade, then attended and graduated from Parker High School in 1939. After graduating and working various jobs, he attended the Missouri Aviation Institute in Kansas City, Missouri. Orland married Ella Bernice (Margaret) Walje in Yuma, Arizona,on August 14, 1942. To that union, three children were born: Vanetta Carol, Dennis Leroy and Gerald Herman. They were married for 42 years until her death in 1984. In 1944, Orland was drafted into the Army Air Corps and served his country during World War II as a cryptographic technician (radio coking and decoding) attached to Army Transport Command, 137th AACS Squadron in Iceland and Greenland. Upon his discharge in 1946, he worked for the Pleasanton Telephone Company, Boeing Aircraft in Wichita and the US Postal Service in Pleasanton from 1951-1982. In 1985 he married Mary Lou (Snow) Heiser. Together they spent much time square dancing, playing bridge and entertaining friends who were widowed or shut-in. Orland (Bill) was preceded in death by his parents and both brothers, Verl and Gerald. He is survived by his wife, Mary Lou, of the home; his three children and their spouses: Vanetta and Ken Sabine, Dennis and Kaye Hardy and Gerald and Charlene Hardy, all of Pleasanton; eight grandchildren: Jason, Aaron, Ethan Sabine; Maggie Waddell, Mary Hardy, Dennis Hardy Jr.; Jennifer Statler and Brian Hardy, along with their spouses and twelve great grandchildren; step children, Tim Heiser and Terri, Terry Heiser and Mary Jane, Jerry Heiser and Marsha, Sheilah Umphenour and Gary and Susan Regan and Jim. He also leaves behind his sister-in-law, Mary Frances Hardy, nieces and nephews and the Heiser children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Bill was a faithful member of the Presbyterian Church in Pleasanton, a life member of the Masons, the Mirza Shrine, Pittsburg, Kansas, Order of Quetzalcoatl and served many years in the VFW. W.O. Hardy had many name tags, but the one he cherished the most was GRANDDAD. Services will be held at 10:00 AM, Monday, July 26, 2010 at the Presbyterian Church, Pleasanton, Kansas. Visitation will be from 2-4 PM, Sunday at the Coffel-Schneider Chapel, Pleasanton. Memorial contributions are suggested to the Mirza Shrine Transportation Fund or the Pleasanton Presbyterian Church. Online condolences may be left for the family at www.coffelschneider.com Arrangments are under the direction of the Coffel-Schneider Funeral Home, Pleasanton, Kansas