Helen Louise Hardy

Helen Louise Hardy

Sunrise - February 16, 1945

Sunset - March 26, 2025

Helen Louise Hardy was born February 16, 1945 in Water Valley, Mississippi to Mary

Sue Purnell and a man unknown to her. She was adopted at the age of two years old

by her cousin Emma Hardy and her husband John Hardy. Join their family of 12

children as the youngest sibling-adoptee.

She grew up in Hayti, Missouri graduating from Central High School, Class of 1963.

Having experienced the hard life working the family restaurant business and the other

option of agriculture; picking cotton and strawberries, Helen boarded the Illinois Central

train to Chicago where her older brothers and sisters had migrated.

In the bustling town of Chicago, she went to work at Sears & Roebuck where she met

Joseph Garrett. Together they produced a son after going into labor on her birthday.

While a single mother, she attended Kennedy-King College.

In 1979, Helen moved to the west coast in pursuit of better opportunities, the California

weather and other amenities offered by the state. She never looked back.

She connected with her biological mother who sought to reconcile in 1982, and the two

became friends.

Her hobbies included crocheting, gardening and horse racing.

Always the entrepreneur, she maintained the status of self-employed working in

transportation and gaming until her medical diagnosis and subsequent surgeries forced

her into retirement.

Throughout her life she experienced many trials and tribulations but always seemed to

make it through. This left her with a sense of humor that rose above whatever she was

facing. She lived her life to the fullest, on her own terms – her way.

With the loss of her brother Tom Hardy, she became the matriarch of the Hardy family.

She lived quietly in the town of Boron, California until God called her home on March

26, 2025.

She was preceded in death by her biological mother Mary Sue Purnell, her adoptive

parents Emma and John Hardy, her brothers and sisters, Daisy Hardy (Hemphill),

Robert Hardy, LB Hardy, Eunice Hardy (Campbell), Calvin Hardy, RC Hardy, James

Hardy, Fred Hardy, Wayne Hardy and Tom Hardy.

Helen leaves behind a son, Terry and a grandson, David.