Teresa G. Hardin

Published 4:30 pm Friday, September 21, 2018

ELIZABETHTON — Teresa Hardin, age 61, left this world August 27, 2018, following a lengthy illness. Her final days were made as comfortable as possible by the caring staff of Sycamore Shoals Hospital and Hospice. She was born at Ft. Sill, Okla., January 27, 1957, spent her early years on Merritt Island, Fla., before moving to Elizabethton where she graduated from EHS in 1976. She earned a Bachelor of Business Administration, cum laude, from East Tennessee State University in 1988.
Teresa’s long career in finance, securities and financial management included working for Citizens Bank, Paine-Webber, Merrill-Lynch, AmSouth (Regions), and Raymond James. She retired in 2009, to spend her happiest years motorcycle touring, moonlit boat rides on Watauga Lake, messing in her garden, loving her pups, and relishing time with her adoring mate, Gerry. She was known as ever-generous being called a “Bleeding Heart Republican” at times because, making profits for others was frequently at her own expense. To that she would often respond with the axiom, “the cobbler’s children have no shoes!”
Teresa was very spiritual and frequently expressed her gratitude to the singular, universal, infinite God whom she believed was too omniscient, omnipresent and vast to be contained or constrained by any particular religion or church. It was a personal matter that underlay her eternally optimistic attitude that some described as viewing life through, “rose-colored glasses.” Her typical response was, “…through what color glasses would you prefer I view life?” She was never one to complain about her health, instead, was ever grateful for the life she was given. She never lost her sense of humor and loved to laugh, finding things to be happy about everywhere she looked.
Teresa is survived by her husband and best friend of more than thirty years, Dr. Gerald L. Hardin, Elizabethton; daughter, Jennifer L. (Oaks) Penix, Elizabethton; step-children, Joseph W. Hardin, Johnson City, and Joanna G. Hardin-Upchurch, of Monticello, Utah.
Final arrangements were provided by Trinity Funeral Home, Kingsport. She was interred at Mt. Home Military Cemetery on September 18, 2018, where her husband and veteran of the Persian Gulf War, will eventually be laid to rest by her side. No flowers, no memorials, please. Instead, her only request was that everyone recall some happy memory and laugh, laugh every day!