Family mourn loss of civic-minded Dorothy Hardy
While they lived in Pretoria, Dorothy helped found a branch of the SPCA.
Amanzimtoti mourned the death of Dorothy Louise Hardy (93) recently.
Dorothy was born in Leicester, UK, on 8 February 1925. She met her husband Bill in her home town and they were married on 17 September 1949. The couple had three children – Liz, the eldest, Richard, who died in 2007, and Dot.
Dorothy was brave enough to uproot her family and move continents twice – firstly to India where many adventures were had, including hiking in the Himalayas and avoiding bears and then to Africa, immigrating to South Africa on 3 September 1973.
While they lived in Pretoria, Dorothy helped found a branch of the SPCA. “It was an original fundraiser along with a group of like-minded women who raised the funds that enabled the building of the SPCA, in what was then Verwoerdburg, now Centurion,” said her daughter Dot.
“My mum was an animal lover and there was always a dog and a cat in the house when I was growing up. She had a border collie named Jane as a child during the war, who she adored.”
When Bill died in 1994, she moved to Toti to be near Dot. She joined the Amanzimtoti Child and Welfare organisation and volunteered there for about 10 years. Dorothy was also a long-standing member of the 21 Club.
When she became too infirm, she took up residence at the Lake View Care Centre in Scottburgh for the last two years.
“My mum loved her family, was loyal, a great listener and a great friend to those who knew her. She had a lively sense of humour and a get-up-and-do attitude. I will miss her wicked sense of humour and ability to beat us at Scrabble,” said Dot.
Dorothy is survived by her daughter Liz and son-in-law John and their two children Matthew, Alex and great grandson Stanley, her daughter-in-law Jan (married to Richard), whom she always treated as a daughter, and their three children Emma, married to Al and their son Alfie and daughter Ava, Katie, married to Sam and Jan and Richard’s youngest son Jamie and Dorothy’s youngest daughter Dot, married to Steve, and their children Chris and Megan.
