Charles Hardage Sr.
CHARLES HARDAGE, SR., went home to the Lord on February 17, 2006. He is survived by sister, Johnnie Dean Hardage of Merced, CA, sons Charles and wife, Patti, Hardage, Jr., of Plano, TX, John Robert "Bob" and wife, Linda, Hardage of Point Blank, TX, and Michael "Mike" and wife, Ronna, Hardage of Kingwood, TX, by grandchildren John Arthur Hardage, Samuel Ellis Caskey and Brandy Nicole Caskey of Houston, Charles Hardage, III, Mary Elizabeth Hardage, and David Stephen Hardage of Plano, TX, Adrien Hardage Rawls and Michael Leon Hardage, II, of Kingwood, and by six great grandchildren. Charles was born December 22, 1918, to John Singleton and Anna Dara "Dean" Hardage in Timpson, Texas,(Shelby County) the third of four children. He was baptized in the First Christian Church. He graduated from Timpson HS in 1936, during the Great Depression when there were very few jobs. Charles thought it best to help his parents and his country by enlisting in the Coast Guard in early 1942. He served 33 months at sea in the Battle for the Atlantic on the cutter USS Galatea and on the destroyer escort USS Pettit. He was in the invasions of Casa Blanca and Anzio, Italy, and he escorted trans-Atlantic convoys mostly between Londonderry, N. Ireland, and New York. After the War he met Edith Mae Rutledge in Houston. They married on April 6, 1946, and their marriage lasted 59 years, until May 3, 2005, when Edith went home to be with the Lord. Charles graduated with a B.S. degree from Stephen F. Austin State Teachers College in Nacogdoches. The family lived in Shreveport and W. Monroe, LA, San Antonio, and Pasadena, TX. They settled in Humble in May 1959, and lived there until moving to their present home in Kingwood in 2001. Charles worked as a salesman for Armour & Co. for 20 years. After retirement in his early 50s Charles attended AA meetings at the Aldine Group where Edith and he helped found the Aldine Al-Anon Group. Charles became an often speaker at the meetings, and his influence extended to many other area AA groups. He founded the Atascocita Group on Old Humble Road, and continued to encourage and sponsor countless people in AA. He was awarded special recognition as an outstanding AA speaker at his 31st Birthday in 2005. Charles was a well-developed writer and was published more than 350 times in Letters to the Editor in The Houston Post and The Houston Chronicle newspapers. He wrote five novels. Two were published. Witcher's Lake, published in 1988, is a fictional novel of trial and salvation, and the coming of age of a young man in search of understanding amidst the turmoil of the Great Depression and the ensuing World War. The historical fiction novel about the romantic life of Montana Sioux Indian Chief, Crazy Horse, was published in 1997. Charles was a realist in his life, but despite many hardships, he kept hold of his romantic idealism. He often said -- and always lived it that, "He wanted to leave this world a little better place than he found it". He did. His life was lived with unique creativity, individualistic thinking, humbleness, and uncommon character and sense of right. His faith in and fear of God, his trust in Christ and the Scriptures, and his uncompromising integrity will be remembered. Visitation is on Tuesday, February 21, 2006, from 6-9 PM at Rosewood Funeral Home in Humble, Texas. Services will be held there Wednesday, February 22, at 12:00 noon. Interment will follow at Brookside Memorial Park.