Obituary of gerald alvie hardcastle

Gerald “Jerry” Hardcastle, 88, was born November 14, 1930 in Godley, Texas to Noal (Bud) and Lenora Hardcastle and died October 31, 2019 in Pensacola Florida of natural causes with his nephew, Richard at his bedside. He was the fourth of six siblings. He is survived by his sister, Marjorie Hardcastle Earle; brother, George Hardcastle; sisters-in-law, Ettie Lee Hardcastle, Ann Hardcastle, and Barbara Hardcastle; eleven nieces and nephews, their children and grandchildren; special friends, O.J. (Buz) Humphrey and the Coburn family of Seattle, Bill Moffett of San Francisco, CA, and Gervais family of London, UK. Jerry was predeceased by his parents and his brothers, Samuel Hardcastle, Harold Hardcastle, Rodney Hardcastle; brother-in-law, John Earle and niece, Sherry Hardcastle-Cesarez. His sister-in-law, Mary Ann Hardcastle followed him in death November 2, 2019. At the age of 19, in June of 1950, Jerry earned a B.A from the University of Texas. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in January of 1951 and served at the 13th Naval District Headquarters in Seattle. After commissioning at Officers Candidate School in March 1953 at Newport, Rhode Island, he served at the Bureau of Naval Personnel, Washington, D.C., then on the USS Randolph with the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. After his release from active duty in 1956, he began teaching in the Seattle Public School System in September of the same year. In the years following, Jerry earned his M.A. in History from Harvard University, and did further graduate work at The University of Washington and Oxford University. He taught History at Garfield, Ingraham, and Nathan Hale for 26 1/2 years. During that time, he also worked for McGraw-Hill as a writer and consultant on U.S. History textbooks. After his retirement in 1981, Jerry traveled for 7 years and upon his return to Seattle, he worked for Laird Norton Trust Company from 1991-1996. "Uncle Jerry," a retired educator never lost his passion for teaching. His beloved nieces, nephews, and "grand’s" received reading assignments from him regularly in the form of books, articles, and cherished letters. He hosted wonderful "field trips" for them too. On the streets of London, hiking trails of Germany, rainforests of Belize, Mayan ruins, beaches of Maui, cruises to Alaska, visits to D.C, and of course Seattle, he taught lessons in history, culture, language, and geography - nonstop. His passion for education coupled with his generosity also inspired him to provide opportunities for them to study or volunteer abroad. As one might expect, he was also an avid reader. He was in the middle of 2-3 books at the time of his demise. Friends and parishioners are invited to join the family for a memorial service at Holy Cross Episcopal Church, 7979 N. 9th Avenue, Pensacola, Florida on Saturday, November 16 at 1:00 p.m. They will host a brief reception afterward in the parish hall. A graveside service of committal will be held at Trinity Parish Church in Seattle on November 26 at 11:00 a.m. Special thanks to the caring staff and volunteers at The Residence, Covenant Memory Care Center. Flowers for the service will be provided by the family, so Jerry asked that you make memorial donations to Trinity Parish Church, 609 8th Avenue, Seattle, WA, 98104 (or online at http://www.trinityseattle.org/give-online.aspx); or to the Nature Conservancy, 74 Wall Street, Seattle WA, 98121 (Support.nature.org for online donations).