Belle-Ralph Walter Hardiman, 93, passed away Sunday, Feb. 23, 2014, at Marmet Center in Marmet.
He was born Feb. 19, 1921, at Alleghany, VA, a son of the late Peter Sylvester and Ada Dora Walton Hardiman.
He volunteered for the Navy in 1942. During WWII he served in the European Theater. He volunteered for a tour of Duty in Vietnam in 1968 with the Navy “Sea Bees.” He served in the Navy Reserves in the 1940s through the 1970s retiring in 1979 from the Navy “Sea Bee” Reserve with the rank of Builder Chief Petty Officer. He was a life member of VFW Post 3466 in Charleston, volunteered in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in Virginia and received a Certificate of Membership in the Lee Volunteers of the United States Navy.
Mr. Hardiman retired as a masonry foreman for Lowry Masonry Company in Charleston and was a life member of the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers. He was involved in the cleanup effort after numerous weather disasters in West Virginia and after hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and Mexico.
He was an avid hunter and fisherman who enjoyed the outdoors on the family farm in the Monongahela Forest in Greenbrier County.
In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by: his wife, Mabel Grace Alderman Hardiman on Nov. 15, 2013; and his siblings, Raymond, George, Ora, Katherine, Dennis, Edgar, Emmett, Mamie, Leila, Bernie, Myrtle, Lawrence, Lee Gentry, Clarence Gentry and Laura Gentry.
Survivors include: daughter, Brenda Kees (Mike) of Raleigh, NC; son, William Lee Hardiman (Donna) of Belle; grandchildren, Ginger Tennant (Alan) of Raleigh, NC, William Hardiman, II and Eamon Hardiman both of Charleston and Brett Kees (Breanna) of Alvon; four great-grandchildren; sisters-in-law, Olga Wade of Alvon and Dorothy Alderman of South Charleston; and brother-in-law, Dale Alderman of Florida and White Sulphur Springs.
Funeral services were held Wednesday, Feb. 26 at Wallace & Wallace Funeral Home in Lewisburg, where Rev. John Massey officiated.
Burial with Military Honors followed at Rosewood Cemetery, Lewi sburg.
The family received friends before the service at the funeral home on Wednesday.
Please send online condolences by visiting www.WallaceandWallaceFH.com.