Jack Hardin

Jack (John) Hardin died in his sleep on July 24, 2023, of congestive heart failure. Jack was born in Clinton, Iowa on December 22, 1947, and grew up in Hopkinton, Iowa. The son of Esther Klaren and Glen Hardin, Jack was the middle son of five siblings. The Hardin boys often made up most of the town baseball team. In smalltown Iowa, Jack grew up knowing everyone and everyone knew him. They knew when he hit his homeruns, when he played his trumpet badly, when he 'laid rubber' on main street, and when the sheriff took away his license going 120mph in his new GTO.After graduating from Maquoketa Valley High School in 1966, and getting to know the sheriff too well, he joined the US Army and served stateside for two years. During that short term he rose to Platoon Sergeant and certified as a sharpshooter and demolition expert. After being honorably discharged, he entered the Iowa National Guard and rose in rank to Sergeant First Class, with the 389th engineering division of the Iowa National Guard. He loved his position as supplies sergeant of the transportation unit, and he was always the first person to step into traffic directing cars around obstacles as recently as last year! In his later years, he was a member of the Commemorative Air Force Missouri Wing Ghost Squadron and the Show Me B25J team out of Missouri. He was proud to be a veteran and flew the American flag on his property with honor.Jack began his professional career steadily climbing his mountain from a welder at Highway Equipment, to FMC where his natural leadership and organization skills allowed his talent as a manufacturing manager to flourish. In 1988, while working at Rockwell Graphics (Goss) he received an offer that changed our lives forever. He spent two years working for the company in Lancashire, England. It is here he found a passion for traveling, visiting nearly the entire British island and most of the European continent. He traveled to Brazil to build production lines for the Goss newspaper printing press. And then on to Japan for six months. He did not like living in Japan, but was able to keep the good memories in his life. He took an opportunity to return in 2011, with his wife, Juli. He showed her where he lived, how he rode the train, how he was able to use a strange but basic sign language to overcome the language barrier, and how he towered over everyone. He revisited places and shared his memories with Juli including his final view of Mt Fuji, as the plane rose into the east to take him home.In 1993, he began his prosperous career in the aerospace industry with In Tolerance, Inc. For nearly thirty years he managed the company and learned so many things about aerospace engineering. Even with his health declining he could not leave the company until necessary. Still, even in retirement he referred to In Tolerance as if he were still part of the team, which in reality, he was.Jack spearheaded the company's sponsorship of the Quad Cities Air Show and embraced his final show this past June like a proud father. It was because of his work with the air show that he became connected to the Show Me B25J team.In the aerospace industry, he built strong friendships and business connections because, well, that is what Jack was good at. He was the people person of the company. Through the connections he built he was able to grow the company from a small production company to a multimillion-dollar firm specializing in custom aerospace machining. He knew how to treat his customers well and made sure the people with whom he worked received his personal touch.When not spending 12 hours or more every day at the office, he traveled. He traveled the US visiting customers and nurturing new connections. With his family he often returned to the UK and France. He loved Prague and Budapest. He expanded his travels to visit Mexico and visited every winter. In Puerto Vallarta he chose to dig his feet into the warm sandy beach instead of riding the train across Europe. But Africa was to be his passion. As a charter member of Metro North Rotary, Jack lead projects for providing computers to students in Senegal, West Africa and drilling clean water wells in Kenya. Three times he returned to bring new computers. Jack organized several successful fund raisers for well-drilling through Rotary.Jack lived by his values and often challenged them when he saw injustice. From his international experiences, he came to embrace diversity in his life. He believed in what his father-in-law always taught him that pants go on one leg at a time no matter where you live, who you love, how you pray, or what color was your skin. The Pride Movement was of particular importance to Jack because his gay and queer daughters and extended family members needed his patriarchal support. It may have taken him a few days to come to terms with this, but once he did, he was a force to be reckoned with. He stood proudly beside his children and stridently said they could and should love whomever they chose.Love does not distinguish between gender or color. Love is essential to living. This is all he ever wanted for his children: to find and know love. This understanding of love extended to his own private relationship with God. He prayed every day but kept it private. If it did not hurt his family, he believed we should be allowed to have our own approach to God.Ultimately, family was Jack's first love and priority. For 41 years, he shared his life with his wife, Julienne Junge Hardin. He unconditionally loved his children, Greg Hardin, Lynne Hardin (Mark) Kruse, Paige Junge, and Annie Hardin. He loved his grandchildren, Caleb Hardin, Carson (Abbie) Kruse and Baby Kruse, William, Connor, Evan and Emma Kruse. He also loved his great-niece, Ava Isolde Junge, and many additional nieces and nephews and greats in the Hopkinton area. He cherished his moments with brother and sister-in-law, Steven Junge and Tris Dows. Left to honor the Hardin Boys baseball team are his brothers, Glen (Anna Mae) of Farley, Iowa, Robert (Pam) of Santee, California, and Terry of Hopkinton, Iowa. Preceding him into a new world are his parents; an infant brother, Richard; sister, Debra Hardin; sister-in-law, Debbie, and in-laws, Robert and Margueritte Junge and Susie Junge.Jack leaves behind many people he loved, including three special families that he considered his own: Natalie and Phillip Clouse and children Lucy, Max, Gideon, and his miracle baby Gwendolyn; Colette and Paul Brookes of Gosport UK and children Alexandra, Lewis, Sophie, Morgan, Harvey and Cydney; and the entire Doug Grunder Family because Doug was his best friend and co-master builder.A memorial service for his life is on August 19, 2023, at Indian Creek Nature Center from 3-6 p.m. with a ceremonial tribute at 4pm. All are welcome to join the family. All are welcome to share a can of Miller Lite.In lieu of flowers, we invite you to contribute to the Jack Hardin Memorial Fund at Hills Bank, 3204 7th Avenue, Marion, Iowa 52302. His family will distribute donations to several of his treasured charities.A special thank you to his medical team led by Dr. Shiny Mathewkutty, with Jennifer Lee ARNP, Dr. Anwar Ahmed, Dr. C.C. Lee, Dr Cam Campbell, Dr. T. Sheeley and the staff who lovingly cared for Jack (even when he was grumpy) at Mercy Medical Center. Thank you also to his caretakers.