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Don Oglesby Hardin 1920 - 1994

Don Oglesby Hardin of San Diego, San Diego County, CA was born on January 22, 1920 in Lynden, Whatcom County, Washington United States, and died at age 74 years old on March 29, 1994 in San Diego, San Diego County, CA. Don Hardin was buried ashes scattered in Pacific Ocean during burial at sea by US Navy.

Don Oglesby Hardin

Mac

San Diego, San Diego County, CA 92139

January 22, 1920

Lynden, Whatcom County, Washington, United States

March 29, 1994

San Diego, San Diego County, California, United States

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Don Oglesby Hardin Don Hardin (1920 - 1994)

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Don Oglesby Hardin's History: 1920 - 1994

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Introduction

Don Oglesby "Mac" Hardin was born to Ed Everett "Ed" Hardin (1860-1940) and Elsie E. Haggard (1884-1944). His father was born in Kentucky and his mother was born in Minnesota. He had a brother, Jack Haggard Hardin (1918-1991), and seven half-siblings, including Grace, Hope, Edith, Edward Brown, Thomas Boone, Cambria Jane, and Henry Buster Hardin. In the 1940 federal census, he was a lodger in a home in Los Angeles and said that he was working as an "apprentice tinsmith" Don married Stella Frances Nowak (1919 - 1976) on April 21st 1945 in Seattle Washington and they had three daughters, including Mary and Elizabeth. Don and Stella were married until Stella's death on September 2nd 1976. A 1977 article in the Imperial Beach Star-News provides a detailed account of Stella's accomplished life, highlighting the Stella Hardin Memorial Scholarship initiated by Don Hardin in her honor. See Scholarship in memory of Stella Hardin. Don later married Constance I Crosby (1924 - 1996) on November 4th 1978 in Ventura California. They didn't have children.
01/22

1920

Birthday

January 22, 1920

Birthdate

Lynden, Whatcom County, Washington United States

Birthplace

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Ethnicity & Family History

Don was Caucasian of English heritage on his paternal line. His father was born in Kentucky and his mother was born in Minnesota. His eight times great-grandfather on his father's line was born in England.
Nationality & Locations

Born in Washington, Don moved to California when he was transferred by the Navy in 1951. He worked in Burbank and spent his final days in San Diego, California. He died in San Diego at the age of 74 and his ashes were scattered at sea by the United States Navy.
Early Life & Education

In the 1940 census, Don said that he had attended 4 years of high school
Military Service

Don enlisted in the United States Navy on Nov 4 1955 and was discharged on May 8 1962.
Professional Career

Don worked at Lockheed prior to World War 2. Later, "Don Hardin" was a sports reporter for The Independent in Long Beach, California. See an article about this Don Hardin at Memory about .
Personal Life & Family

On July 1st 1941, Don's World War 2 Draft Registration card shows that he worked for Lockheed in Burbank CA, weighed 135 pounds, had a light complexion, blue eyes, brown hair, and was 5' 7" tall. It seems as though Don might have thoroughly enjoyed sports. There is an article that he wrote in the Press-Telegram in Long Beach California on Monday February 17th 1964 titled "Lakers Blew Late-Game 10-Point Lead 'Found New Way to Lose'", another in The Independent (also in Long Beach) in 1961 titled "And without Ailing Baylor Lakers Upend Stilt!", and others like "Hardin Has Top Weekend Selections". See another article in The Independent about sportswriter Don Hardin Memory about . Don created a nursing scholarship called the "Stella Hardin Memorial Scholarship" in memory of his late wife Stella (Nowak) Hardin - see her obituary at Stella Hardin, nurse and pilot, dies at 57. An article about the scholarship is located here: Scholarship in memory of Stella Hardin
03/29

1994

Death

March 29, 1994

Death date

Unknown
Cause of death

San Diego, San Diego County, California United States
Death location

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Gravesite & Burial

mm/dd/yyyy
Funeral date
ashes scattered in Pacific Ocean during burial at sea by US Navy
Burial location
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6 Memories, Stories & Photos about Don

Kathy Pinna

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12/11/2023

Stella Hardin, nurse and pilot, dies at 57

Stella F. Hardin, 57, of 760 Guava Avenue, Chula Vista, a nurse at Chula Vista Community Hospital 14 years, died Thursday at the hospital. Rosary will be tomorrow at 7 p.m. in Humphrey Chula Vista Mortuary Chapel. Funeral Mass will be Tuesday at 9 a.m. in St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church. Burial will be in Glen Abbey Memorial Park.

A pilot, Mrs. Hardin was a member of the Ninety Nines Powder Puff Association and flew as co-pilot in one of the Powder Puff Derbys. She was a member of both the American and California Nurses' Associations, the Independent Order of Foresters and was active in the "Make Today Count" cancer group at the hospital.

Mrs. Hardin flew high priority cargo messages while in the Civil Air Patrol in World War II. She was also an airplane mechanic, receiving her license in 1949, and worked for Continental Airlines and the Air Force.

Mrs. Hardin was born in New York and lived in the county 25 years. Her husband, Don; three daughters, including Mary Mead of Spring Valley and Elizabeth Richards of San Diego; a sister, ant three grandchildren survive. The family would appreciate contributions to the Amelia Earhart Memorial Scholarship Fund of the Ninety Nines which may be sent to 6441 Montezuma Road, San Diego.

- Chula Vista Star-News (Chula Vista, California) Sunday, September 5, 1976 on page 18.

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Daniel Pinna

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07/19/2022

Scholarship in memory of Stella Hardin

Lifelong fight against disease won't go unremembered

Stella Hardin of Chula Vista lost her lifelong battle last year - against an army of disease and disability. But her name lives on in a nursing scholarship established by her husband at Southwestern College. As the first Stella Hardin Memorial Scholarship was awarded to Peggy Webb, the 37-year-old mother of three teenagers, the story of Mrs. Hardin's [unknown] life unfolded.

Born Stella Nowak in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1919, the daughter of illiterate Polish immigrant parents, she immediately faces the added complication of being born with both hips dislocated. "She started out with many hurdles to cross," Don Hardin said in telling his wife's life story. Determined as she was, even Stella Hardin might have wavered had she known then just how many hurdles she would have to cross - and how hard the crossing might be.

For instance the radical mastectomy in 1966 - what her husband describes as "the first go-round with cancer." Or the pulmonary tuberculosis which struck her in 1972. And finally the October, 1975, diagnosis of terminal lung cancer. That battle ended in surrender on Sept. 8, 1976.

But before she succumbed, Mrs. Hardin led the life of a woman "ahead of her time," undaunted by tremendous odds. From the time she was 8 - when Charles Lindbergh made his historic solo flight across the Atlantic - she wanted to fly. And when she was 18, she had the first operation to correct the hip dislocation. Recovery from surgery for each hip took about six months.

Doctors told her she should do something to keep her on her feet a lot - so she went to the YWCA (Young Women's Christian Assn.) School of Nursing in Brooklyn, passed the state examinations and became a licensed practical nurse. And that gave her an income of her own. The sky beckoned. "She would fly maybe 15 or 30 minutes a week," Hardin said. "But she was flying."

But she had trouble keeping her flying fields. First there was Roosevelt Field. It's a shopping center now. And then she flew at Floyd Benneft Field - which was taken over by the military. She and a few other pilots flew around and spotted a nice-looking spout "out in the tules," Hardin said.

They named it Sunrise Airport. It's now La Guardia Field, one of the busiest commercial airports in the country. Years later still another field sort of disappeared from under her. It was the National City Airport, located in what is now an industrial area between National City and Chula Vista, on the west side of National Ave.

World War II got in the way of her flying also. She was frustrated by a rule barring civilian flights near the coast. So she moved inland, to Denver, Colo. There was one of only two women pilots who flew regularly with the Colorado Civil Air Patrol.

Not one to recognize and limitations, Mrs. Hardin branched out from nursing and flying, to become a certified oxyacetelene, arc and gas welder, a meteorology instructor and made jewelry and Indian beadwork as hobbies. She met and married Don Hardin in 1945 in Seattle, Wash., where she was repairing planes. They have three daughters.

They came to the South Bay area when he was transferred here by the Navy in 1951. Mrs. Hardin attended Grossmont Hospital's school of nursing, to qualify in this state, and went to work at Chula Vista Community Hospital. Then in 1968, she was one of 36 accepted of the 300 who applied for Southwestern College's first registered nursing class. And one of 19 who completed that course. In 1970 she passed her California state examination to become a registered nurse and returned to work at Chula Vista Community Hospital, where she remained until the final surrender. Except for a break when she took six months off for the skirmish with tuberculosis.

Hardin said his wife kept her job at the hospital, "always determined to help her patients," but admitted defeat when her lung cancer was diagnosed as terminal. Before that, "she never let the physical defeat slow her down," he said. But there was something more than tha. "Everyone is entitled to do his own thing," he said, comparing his wife's outlook on life to Thoreau's philosophy of each person marching to the music he hears.

"She definitely marches to the music she heard - she did her own thing," he said.

- Imperial Beach Star-News (Imperial Beach, California) Thursday November 24th 1977, written by Laura Ritchie.

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Don Hardin - Stella Hardin Memorial Scholarship

Daniel Pinna

9.25k+ favorites

07/19/2022

Don Hardin - Stella Hardin Memorial Scholarship

The photo of Don Hardin which appeared in the Imperial Beach Star-News which is a newspaper in Imperial Beach California on Thursday November 24th 1977. The article highlights the Stella Hardin Memorial Scholarship he founded in honor of his wife Stella (Nowak) Hardin.

The full article can be found here: Scholarship in memory of Stella Hardin

Date & Place: 1977 in Imperial Beach, San Diego County, California United States

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Daniel Pinna

9.25k+ favorites

07/19/2022

Stella (Nowak) Hardin - Nurse

Stella (Nowak) Hardin in her Grossmont nursing uniform. This image appeared in an Imperial Beach Star-News article published in 1977 highlighting her husband Don Hardin's scholarship which he created in her honor - The Stella Hardin Memorial Scholarship.

The full article can be found here: Scholarship in memory of Stella Hardin

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

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