Diane Hardesty

Hardesty, Diane (Nee: Wilder, Smith)

Diane, from Harrison Ohio, formerly of Pineville Kentucky was born on February 12, 1954 to Delois Marie and Charles Wilder. She is survived by her three sons, Michael (Elizabeth) Smith, Craig (Melissa) Smith, & Danny (Courtney) Smith; her 7 grandchildren; Jacob (Veronica) Smith, Whitney (Byron) Asher, Joshua, Ethan, & Abby Smith, Gage & Gavin Smith; and her 3 great-grandchildren; Liam & Owen Smith & Colson Asher. Diane was preceded in death by her Mother, Father, & brother Gary Wilder. She is survived by her brother Jerry Wilder, & her sisters Ella Mae Hibbard, Valarie Muse, Phyllis Mason, Nancy Belcher & Louise “Cookie” Rose and had a host of loving nieces and nephews.

Diane was a homemaker most of her life and could always make something from anything. She lived what she would call a very normal mountain life but in reality could create anything from very little. When her family thinks of her, this passage from a story on Appalachian Women comes to mind because it’s a life she lived so selflessly:

“Appalachian women of her time had strength like I wouldn’t even pretend to know.  It was a strength that was bigger than they were, because their faith didn’t stand in their self or their circumstances.  It was a faith in what was truth was truth, and what was not would eventually pass away and could be endured as something finite.

Mountain women have lived through hard hands on work, isolation, raising children and food.  After a time, they lived through being crowded together in coal camps, black dust flying, covering everything, finding happiness in just seeing the whites of her husband’s eyes one more time.  They nursed babies and broken hearts.  They fought hard fights physically and mentally.  Mountain women bore the iniquities of a whole people on their backs whether the burdens they bore were any fault of theirs or not.  They lived by stern principles.  They lived by know-how.”

Diane loved her family fiercely but loved God most of all. She was a devoted Christian woman for many many years and is now in the arms of her maker.

A Memorial service for Diane will be held at a later date in Pineville Kentucky. Her Sons will update on Facebook.