Tonight I attended the "unofficial" Vigil for Nathan T. Hardee. While they had a lovely opening prayer and speaker and turned it over to open mic, I wished I could have gotten up there and spoken. Unfortunately public speaking scares the crap out of me so I'm just going to write here what I wish I could have said there. ((PS my cousin Katie and I were both interview for the news at 10 on channel 10 and channel 13))
Nathan T. "Nat" Hardee was truly the heart and spirit of Deep Creek. My parents, cousins, aunts, uncles, great aunts and uncles were all either classmates of Mr. Hardee or he was their Principal. It's not often someone hands you your diploma then 20 or so years later you get to watch that same person hand your child a diploma. But he was much more than that. He remembered my name and all those of my family members (cousins included) and always asked about them or had some kind of story to tell about them. I remember him always asking me about my father every single day of my DCHS career and always telling me about how great of baseball player he was. He'd also ask about my aunts, uncles, and cousins. How amazing is that? I'd say most principals couldn't tell you the name of hardly anyone that walked the halls of their school 5 years ago unless they made some huge scholastic achievement, was a spectacular athlete, or caused a ruckus-never the less remember people from 30 years. The man never forgot a name or their relatives.
Despite all this though, Mr. Hardee taught me some valuable lessons through his many displays or greatness. He taught me to take pride in everything I do and to have pride in my community and my family. He taught me this by having pride in his school, his students past and present, and in the decisions he made. Mr. Hardee taught me to love- love thy family, love thy friends, and even more so to love thy enemies. He loved his school, he loved his "children", and he loved his community- no one who walked the halls of DCHS can deny this. He was there for us when we needed him and never denied anyone an ear who had an idea, a complaint, or needed guidance. He was a natural born leader and proved this when my aunt (Lolly) was in high school during the race issues and riots the school had in his early days as principal. He took on a seemingly impossible job and with great love and dedication turned Deep Creek from a place of turmoil to the loving community so many people like my parents choose to return to and raise their children. Through this he taught me two very different lessons - that nothing is impossible, and home really is where the heart is.
Now the times have changed and Deep Creek is nothing like it the place we all knew and loved. Mr. Hardee's death seems to truly signify the ending of an era. The turning of the tides. The time to close one chapter and start anew with the memories etched in our heads and hearts of days past. It is very sad indeed, but there is light in all that is dark. Let's take this moment and truly appreciate the legacy of a great man. A staple of a small town. The patriarch of the Deep Creek Hornets. The heart and soul of the Purple and White. Those are all things to describe the man that was Nathan T. Hardee, our friend and leader. May his spirit live on in the hearts of all that walked the halls of Deep Creek during his 37 year tenure as our principal of Deep Creek High School. Rest in peace Mr. Hardee, you will be loved, remembered, and missed.
Again, my heart and prayers go out to his family. My God bring them peace and comfort knowing the caliber of a man they got to call family.
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