In Memory of Jon Hardin


 

Jonathan Lee Hardin, 23, of St. Louis, Missouri and former Pine Bluff resident, died unexpectedly at St. Luke Hospital in Chesterfield, Missouri on Tuesday, December 14, 2004.

He was born in Pine Bluff on June 29, 1981, a son of Susan Vontungeln Hardin and Edward Lee Hardin of Pine Bluff. He received his early education in Pine Bluff and was an Eagle Scout. He was a 1999 graduate of the Arkansas School for Mathematics and Sciences in Hot Springs. He earned his bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Missouri Rolla in May of 2004. He was chosen as an outstanding electrical engineering student at UMR, receiving a $5,000 award from the Grainger Foundation.

Moving to St. Louis he joined Ameren as an associate engineer. He was currently a transmission coordinator for that electric utility. During his college years he worked for Thompson Electric in Little Rock, for Aldo Foods in O'Fallon, MO, for Bensen Electric as a student co-op engineer/project manager in St. Louis, and for Ozark Electric Cooperative as a student intern in Nixa, Missouri. He had passed the certification examination and completed the initial step on his way to becoming a Missouri State Board certified engineer.

In Pine Bluff, he was a member of Lakeside United Methodist Church. He was a member of Sigma Pi Fraternity and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. He was a certified scuba diver and enjoyed skydiving.

Other survivors include his grandmother, Dora Ellen Vontungeln of Pine Bluff; his step-mother, Shelia Hardin of Pine Bluff; brother, Ryan William Hardin of Pine Bluff; and step-sisters Cassie Drake and Morgan Drake of Pine Bluff.


If you have any stories or other memories of Jon that you would like to share, please e-mail them to us so they may be posted here.