Christmas Card 1992--James and Camber Wed

The big news of the year was the marriage of James, our youngest, to Camber Carlston of Mission Viejo.  They were married in the Los Angeles Temple and have settled in San Diego.  James is working in the mortgage business with Janet and Richard and Camber is working for a medical company and hoping to finish her education.

Linda and Gary were able to take a dream vacation to Hawaii this year and leave all four of their children behind with babysitters (James and Camber).  Gary Pulsipher is doing well as an orthodontist, working in both El Cajon and La Jolla.  Linda is the bookkeeper for Choice Mortgage as well as a very busy mother.

Maria and Mark Valko are back in California (hurray!)  Mark is working in construction and they have a new home in Tulare, CA--a nice little town near the Sequoia forest, south of Fresno.  Mark is working on getting his contractor's license and although California is a tough market right now, they are keeping very busy.  We love having them and their four children so much closer!

John took a month from his job as Senior Manager at Peat, Marwick, and Main (an accounting company in LA) and traveled throughout eastern Europe this fall.  Besides this he had numerous other hiking adventures to the High Sierras and Nevada this year.  Meagan has also gone on several weekend treks to the Sierras and is an excellent hiker.  They will be at Park City as usual for their Christmas skiing.  John's girlfriend Jessica is also getting in the skiing scene and did very well at Park West last year.  Meagan is in 7th grade at Muirlands in La Jolla and will be moving to San Francisco next summer when her mother Jennifer marries.  We will really miss them both very much.

We had another Vida and Merlin Hardy reunion at Torrey Pines Beach this year and Richard and his brother Martin had most of their children and grandchildren--next year we are hoping to get all of Scott's children and grandchildren to join us also.

Except for the same old problems we are managing to keep our heads above water and our feet moving and are just very grateful for the blessings of a loving family, good health, the gospel and warm beds at night.

Big Bear Vacation in 1993 so Fun! Miss Our Connie at the Office!

I sent Jeanne $25 for the family reunion in Utah.   I am not sure who will come with us but we will be there.  Richard and I will leave Thursday and stay in Las Vegas and then get to Utah on Friday and stay Friday and Saturday night and then leave Sunday and go as far as Las Vegas again.  We are getting too old to drive it all in one day.

We had a wonderful time at Big Bear last weekend.  John came up on Saturday so everyone was there.  They had put us in three condos stacked on top of each other so it was easy to share food and baby sitting and going to the pool, etc.  We walked, boated, ate, swam, played games and some of the them went mountain biking.  At $35 a night for a condo it was a real bargain.  Even Jimmy's friend Roger was there. John and Jimmy had their traditional monopoly game that went till all hours of the night.  Jimmy won this time.

The boys loved the pool.

John and Kelly getting acquainted.  Climbing trees!

An imaginary collage!

Face painting for Meagan?  Amy.

Current grandchildren above.  All four of our children are married now.

Even Roger, best friend of Jimmy was there.  Richard loves these outings.

Melissa always is photogenic!

We would take out the boat in the afternoon and the children loved that.

It was really a great weekend!!.  So many activities indoors and out.

Lagonita Lodge provided rentals on the boats.

Connie, my evening and weekend assistant has been out for several weeks now because her mother is in such a bad way.   Connie works still at the school in the day, so she needs someone there.

My other assistant is doing much better but there is still so much she does not know.  Always learning, always trying to move on and make things work!!

Christmas Card and Review of 1994

I can't believe how old we look in this picture.  Hard Times!

If I were an economist I would have to say,
1994 was not good in ANY way!!!
But since I'm not, you'll be happy to hear,
We've had many blessings and lots of good cheer!

The first blessing for the new year '95,
Is the fact that Richard Hardy is still alive--
Like the little pink rabbit that keeps going and going
Richard is there for us all without any slowing.

And then there's the children Linda, Maria, James and John
Who's support and love is with us though they are long gone,
With spouses Gary, Mark, Camber, and Jessica, too
Our cup overfloweth from their goodness so true.

The picture enclosed really tells the whole story,
Ten grandchildren of beauty and wondrous glory.

Is it that first gaze from an infants eyes..
Or the hug and helping hand from the big girls and guys
That makes a grandmother truly thankful and aware
She has gifts from heaven with which none can compare.

And what a blessing The Temple has been in our life
As we escape each Wednesday from a world of strife-
And serve with loving, beautiful sisters and brothers
In a labor of love that transcends all others.

Knowing our family will be with us forever and
that life is eternal and that Jesus Christ and God
live and hear and answer our prayers--
Can any blessing be greater than that?

So Greenspan and Feds keep raising rates high--
Keep hurting our business in the years by and by,
No one can take from us what is of real worth
We've an eternal family sharing our life on earth.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! from Janet and Richard

I like to put the Christmas tree up right after Halloween!!  Meagan helps.  I made some of my decorations.

Four Generation Pictures with Grandma Anderson

Mike and Matt at Christmas.

We were  being threatened that we could not use independent agents anymore and would have to have everyone as employees with health benefits, etc.  We could not have afforded all that.

So in 1994 we moved our office out to Rancho Bernardo, too.  We just worked the two of us trying to survive all the financial woes.

It was in this office that I watched as Richard had a TIA and I called Kaiser as I watched.  They took us right in and in the morning he had carotid surgery on both sides.  It would be two years later when he had his final cardiac arrest in Susanville.

WMA Training and Christmas , 1994

Yesterday, WMA introduced the loan that they have been working on for 2 years to make possible.  We would be the first to have it here in the U. S.  It has been in Great Britain for over 50 years!  Anyway it is an excellent concept and I could certainly do it.  You have to be real estate, security and insurance licensed to broker it, which I am.  Yesterday in the presentation the presenter asked a question early on in the presentation to see if we were catching on and I was the only one that answered out of 150 people.  He said, "Who was that?", and I raised my hand and he said, "Ok, you've already graduated but you can stay and listen with the rest".  But the concept is a 30 year interest only loan combined with A VUL.  Tax advantage and build up of investment--people who understand money will want it easily--inexperienced and first time buyers will be skeptical. 

I did not think I would decorate for Christmas but I was so energized I got it all out last night and it looks very cheery.  I told Meagan we'd do a tree up in Park City since I don't have one here--She was happy cuz John never has one in Pasadena, I guess.

Meagan and John

Richard Passed Away November 27, 1996, Funeral December 3rd, 1996 in Rancho Bernardo Chapel

At an Unexpected Time, Richard Passes Away

So many times over the year incidents would happen and we expected Richard to have a heart attack but when it finally happened, it was not expected at all!

Richard passed away the day before Thanksgiving in 1996, we were at Maria's home in Susanville.  He had gotten up to look for something for his sore throat and finally came back.  He could not find an aspirin, we were sleeping on the pull-out in the Family Room.

Maria came down and said there was nothing open to buy anything and could he wait till morning?  Richard asked me to turn on the TV for him and he could possibly fall asleep. It was about 2:20 AM.  A few minutes later I hear this horrible sound and look at Richard and his eyes have rolled back in his head and he is making loud guttural sounds.  I think I screamed, "Oh, My God", and called for Maria and Mark.  They came down and tried to do something.  I can't remember who called the paramedics.  I remember walking around and around saying "Oh, My God" several times.  The paramedics came and pulled Richard onto the floor and began working on him.  His belly was very swollen.  They finally decided to take him into the hospital and work on him some more.  If they could get a strong enough heartbeat they were going to fly him to Reno, they were all waiting.

Maria's Bishop came to the hospital and gave me a blessing for Richard.  He may have eventually gotten into Richard, too, I can't remember.  We were all crying, but I had accepted the fact that it was the Lord's will, we finally went in and said goodbye to Richard.  I held his head and told him I loved him and that he was a good, good man.  It was all so devastating.  Everyone around looked so sad and seemed to have such empathy for us.  Maria and Mark were so comforting to have with me.

The next two months were a nightmare.  All the boxes of business were in the garage.  My arms have just recently stopped aching from moving them up and down and going through them trying to figure out what to do and what needed to be done.

I can't write any more now.  I'm crying so hard and feeling so sorry for myself.

Funeral, December 3, 1996 

This is the program.  Not on the list of speakers was Robert Wells, Richard's cousin and a Seventy. He unexpectedly showed up representing Richard's many relatives who could not be there from the Las Vegas area.  He gave a powerful talk.  All of the funeral proceedings were video taped by Camber's father and are on You Tube on the Janet Anderson Hardy Channel as well as on this blog.

The Relief Society provided a really lovely luncheon after the funeral.  Sister Brundage had a lot to do with it.  So Nice.

I thought this poem so fitted Richard's Giving Life.

Zack and his family, years later,  came and spread Sherry's ashes in a favorite area they had shared together when Zack was just a toddler.  He was there, at that place, on Sherry's wishes.

After Richard's father Merlin died, when Richard was 11.

Valko Grandchildren at Christmas.

They were the last grandchildren Richard spent time with.

And now Richard is really resting from all the cares of this Earth.  Till we meet again, we will remember.