Vera A. Hardyman

Vera Ann Hoal Hardyman is finally free of a life filled with adversity and pain. Arthritis and cancer had ravaged her body, but not her spirit. She remained graceful and strong to the end. On the evening of December 14, 2010 in her daughter's loving arms, she entered peaceful rest after a long, very difficult battle. She was surrounded by love. She was born in the early years of the Great Depression on December 14, 1931, in Parkersburg, West Virginia to Bradley Hoal and Julia Huff Hoal. She lost her mother at aged three. At aged 10, she was sent to live and work on an elderly couple's farm where she learned to hitch up a plow horse and shoot a 22-caliber rifle. While traveling the United States selling magazines in the early 50s, she met a young army private, Johnnie Hardyman, of Signal Mountain, Tennessee. They married in Panama Canal in 1952 and later divorced in 1965 in El Paso, Texas, at which time she relocated with her young daughter to central Texas. She devoted her life to providing for and raising her daughter taking whatever work was available to make ends meet. Life was difficult, but she always made sure there was food on the table and a roof over their heads. In their 12-foot camper home built by her hands, there was always ample amounts of love and hugs. She was truly a jack-of-all-trades and could do anything from carpentry to cooking a mean chicken fried steak. She nomadically traveled Texas and then Florida before finally coming to rest in San Antonio near her daughter and her family in 1991. She was known for her strong spirit and fierce independence. She loved electronic and battery-powered gadgets and was a big fan of RadioShack and anything mail order. She loved Christmas and was known for her inventive and unique Christmas gifts. She loved trips to the Goodwill Store and Ross' where she could spend hours sifting through the clothes and housewares. However, she found the most joy during the times spent with her daughter just hanging out watching the Disney channel or old movies. She is preceded in death by her parents, Bradley Hoal and Julia Huff Hoal; her sisters Catherine Huff and Grace Louise Huff Lockney; and her brothers, Robert Okey Hoal and William Bradley Hoal, all of Parkersburg, West Virginia. She is survived by her daughter, Kim Hardyman Clendenen and son-in-law Terry Clendenen of La Coste, Texas; her grandson, Ethan Clendenen currently stationed at Langley AFB, Virginia; and her son, Jon Hardyman of Big Springs, Texas. The family wishes to thank VITAS Hospice for their care, especially Kristine. Mrs. Hardyman was her first hospice patient and taught her that some folks can choose not to model what's in the text books! Mrs. Hardyman's desire was to be cremated. Her remains will be interred in the Hoal family plot in Parkersburg. There will be no local ceremony. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in her name to the Bexar Area Agency on Aging or that you take a moment to enrich the life of a nursing home patient or any elderly person with a visit and a warm hug. To Mom: Thank you for your unfailing love and devotion and your commitment to my life. I will miss you more than you know. I love you more. Don't forget you promised to put in a good word for me on the other sideokie dokie?