James Sutton Hardigg

James Sutton Hardigg died peacefully in his home in Conway, Mass. on September 17th. Jim's charismatic enthusiasm, indomitable love of life, and unquenchable delight in learning were an inspiration to those around him. Three months short of his 98th birthday, he was still working on inventions and reading books on science, history, philosophy, and theology, along with the Times Literary Supplement and his well-worn volumes of the 14th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

The son of Mary O'Brien Hardigg and Major General Carl A. Hardigg, Jim was born in Washington, D.C. at Walter Reed Hospital on December 18th, 1922. He was promptly dropped, headfirst, on the floor, by the Army doctor, but fortunately Jim possessed what proved to be a life-long sturdy constitution. Though his parents came from West Virginia and Kentucky, Jim grew up primarily in Washington, D.C. and also spent several years in Hawaii, where his great-uncles had settled in the 1880s. His years on the island of Oahu were particularly happy ones. He reveled in the fact that he never had to wear shoes, and he was drawn like a magnet to the amply equipped woodworking and metalworking shop at the Punahou School, where he made his own models of gliders. He won the annual glider contest when his balsa wood creation flew the farthest.

The Boy Scouts played a formative role for Jim. He was a member of a Cub Scout mounted troop in Virginia that rode cavalry horses, his favorite being a mare named Una. In 1937 he and four members of his troop crossed the Atlantic on an ocean liner to attend the World Jamboree in Holland, where they camped with scouts from 54 countries. It gave him the opportunity to travel through Germany, Switzerland, and France shortly before the outbreak of WWII. In high school he achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. The Boy Scouts fostered his innate love of nature, and he appreciated the opportunity to learn wilderness skills.

When choosing a college, he selected Dartmouth, both for its strong mathematics department and for its proximity to woodlands and mountains. Jim felt a sense of companionship with the trees in the northern forest. He welcomed physical challenges in the open air, admiring the Finnish concept of sisu: sustained determination and perseverance. During Hanover's snowy winters, he often cross-country skied to the summit of a nearby hill before returning to campus for his 8 a.m. class. He walked 50 miles in moccasins on the Appalachian Trail from Mt. Moosilauke to Hanover in a single day. He became the trails director of the Cabin & Trail division of the Dartmouth Outing Club and was active in the Ledyard Canoe Club. After working for a summer in a logging operation in northern Maine, he biked all the way home to Washington, D.C. on a 3-speed bicycle. Always a diligent student, Jim won the Thayer Mathematics Prize as a sophomore, working until midnight on a competitive exam.

Right after Pearl Harbor he enlisted to serve in the infantry. He was called up in his junior year and was inducted at Fort Lee, Virginia. When the Army asked for volunteers for paratroopers, he was one of only two men among his group of recruits who raised his hand. To become a paratrooper, an additional comprehensive medical screening was required. X-rays revealed spots on his lungs, which at that time were thought to make one vulnerable to tuberculosis. To his disappointment, he was prohibited from serving further in the Armed Forces, so he turned his focus to completing his education.

With a goal of working in space exploration, Jim sought the advice of the rocket pioneer, Dr. Robert H. Goddard, who was developing liquid-fueled rockets for the Navy. Dr. Goddard wrote him a supportive letter recommending that he get an additional degree in mechanical engineering, taking as many chemistry and physics courses as possible, and warmly encouraged him to come and see him when he had completed his studies. After graduating from Dartmouth, Jim took Dr. Goddard's advice and got a mechanical engineering degree from M.I.T., where he was the head of the rocket society. Much to his regret, shortly before graduating he got a letter from Dr. Goddard's secretary telling him the sad news of Dr. Goddard's death. He took a job at Westinghouse in the Aircraft Gas Turbine division in Essington, Pennsylvania, hoping that the experience would prepare him for future work on rockets.

He found the company culture at Westinghouse demoralizing, as innovation was rarely recognized or rewarded. In fact, his supervisor often claimed credit for the inventions made by Jim and others. Additionally, the United Electrical Workers Union organized some long and often violent strikes at the plant. When the engineers formed their own union, they became targets. Jim was knocked unconscious by the business agent of the UE, who attacked him from behind. When Jim came to, the vice-president of the UE was kicking him as he lay on the ground. Jim restrained his impulse to strike back, realizing that retaliation would only escalate the violence. His difficult experiences at Westinghouse spurred him into entrepreneurship. He wanted to start a company with fair and ethical practices, where good work was rewarded in an atmosphere of friendly cooperation.

After leaving Westinghouse, he took some time off to climb the Matterhorn, a memory he cherished all his life. After working briefly as an engineer in a metal manufacturing company and as a consultant on wind tunnels, he conducted a study on the principles of shock and vibration for package cushioning for the U.S. Navy. His research project gave him the idea to develop his own packaging products. He made the first prototypes for his fledgling enterprise in his parents' kitchen oven in Washington, D.C. Several of his first patents were underway when he met Alice Hendrick, his future wife, at a dinner party. They were married until the end of her life. He always described her companionship throughout their 55 years together as the greatest gift of his life.

Jim chose to move his small company to New England, ultimately choosing South Deerfield, Mass. He was confident that he could rely upon the work ethic of people growing up in farming communities; he always said that no one worked harder than a dairy farmer. Jim also liked the idea of offering employees the opportunity to work in a manufacturing job while living close to the land. Alice and Jim, who settled in the hill town of Conway, valued self-sufficiency. Their seven children were raised on the milk of their Toggenberg goat herd. They planted a small orchard, kept a vegetable garden and beehives, and raised their own hay for their goats and Dartmoor ponies. Jim cut their fields with a scythe; Alice and the children raked the alfalfa into rows; and they brought the dried hay into the barn using a hand-pulled WWI wooden Army wagon. Jim loved splitting wood, and in the winters, the house was heated primarily with wood-burning stoves. He took his children on cross-country ski expeditions in the hills, and one memorable winter morning, when a heavy snowfall closed the road from Conway to South Deerfield, Jim cross-country skied the 7 miles to work.

Jim's early pioneering work in foam cushioning theory helped his company build innovative products in military packaging, shipping cases, and industrial battery jars.

He had many passions, but his chief interest was research and development. The R&D and engineering teams he worked with became acknowledged industry leaders in the field of packaging, winning design awards. If you were shipping a delicate object in a rough environment, you could rely with confidence on a Hardigg case.

Jim cared deeply about the well-being of associates at the firm. He loved walking the plant floor and talking to people in every part of the company. Most important was his belief that all associates should be fairly treated. Hardigg Industries was one of the first firms in the country to introduce a 401K plan. Annual profit sharing was also important and helped many associates build up substantial retirement nest eggs. He worked hard to cultivate a cheerful atmosphere, including paying attention to the presence of natural light on the shop floor. On the company grounds, he had apple trees planted and provided employees the option of planting their own garden plots. A life-long enthusiast for whole grains, he offered bread-baking lessons to interested employees.

Starting in the mid-nineties, Hardigg Industries began a path to dramatic growth under the combined leadership of Jim and his son, Jamie. Graduates of the University of Massachusetts helped with grassroots efforts throughout the firm to introduce lean manufacturing techniques. The company's product line was trimmed to focus on shipping cases. Quick lead times and strategic marketing resulted in large market share, and the resultant earnings enabled the firm to promote, attract, and retain talent. Many associates remember one particular year when there was a 10% profit share, in addition to a 4% match on their 401K.

In the millennium, Hardigg Industries created the injection-molded Storm Case to enter the consumer market. By the time Pelican Products bought Jim's company in 2008, Hardigg Industries was the largest shipping case company in the world. This past year Jim was gratified to hear that his cases were being used during the current pandemic to ship mobile respiratory machines.

Jim and his firm's R&D and engineering teams had produced dozens of patents by the time he retired at age 86, but what gave him the greatest fulfillment was the congenial, positive work environment that he had helped create. He wrote a book encouraging ethical entrepreneurship: A Purposeful Path, in the hope that it might prove useful to young men and women aspiring to start their own companies.

Throughout his long life, Jim took great pleasure in supporting others. As a high school student, moved by the valiant effort of Finland to defend itself against the Soviet Union in the Winter War, he knocked on the door of the Finnish Embassy in Washington and presented all of the earnings from his paper route. He gave generously over the years to many philanthropic organizations, with a particular emphasis on establishing educational scholarships. When learning of the needs of particular individuals, he always wanted to help. Even when he was in college and had limited resources, upon learning that a Dartmouth classmate was struggling to make tuition payments, he provided him with all the money he had earned from working over the summer.

Well into his 90s, Jim continued to work on inventions. He particularly liked to focus on alternative energy, and in the last year of his life he was still refining a design for a heat-efficient greenhouse.

He was adored by his wife, Alice, and their children: Thea, Jamie, Jeanet, Robert, Viva, Arthur, and Lorli, his 9 grandchildren: Anna, Genevieve, Andrew, Margaret, Hill, Josephine, Henry, Rob, and Louise, and great-grandson, Luke. They all appreciated his loving, patient, and thoughtful nature, his captivating storytelling, his remarkable capacity to answer questions on a vast range of subjects, and his abiding affection for children and animals. Every Halloween he greeted trick-or-treaters in his large and furry bear costume. A few months ago, when a small bear climbed up Jim's wheelchair ramp to dine on some scattered bird seeds, Jim enthusiastically wheeled himself over to the glass door to get as close as possible to his four-legged visitor.

Jim's surviving six children and their families are very grateful to the wonderful caregivers who made it possible for him to remain in his home until the very end.

If he were writing his own obituary, Jim would have wanted to express his heartfelt gratitude for the many highly capable and dedicated individuals who collectively created the honest and productive community that Hardigg Industries became.

When it is safer to congregate in person, Jim's family looks forward to inviting his friends and community to join them in a memorial service to celebrate his life. A great way to honor Jim would be to hike up a hill or bake a loaf of whole-grain bread. For those who might wish to make a donation in his memory, a contribution to the Field Memorial Library in Conway or Kilham Bear Center in Lyme, NH would celebrate his love of books and bears.

Wrisley Funeral Home of South Deerfield is assisting the family.

Expressions of sympathy available at wriselyfuneralhome.com