Benjamin Hurt Hardaway III

1919 - 2017

Benjamin Hurt
Hardaway, III
September 28, 1919-
October 19, 2017
COLUMBUS, GA- Benjamin Hurt Hardaway III, 98, died peacefully at his home on October 19, 2017.
Funeral services will be held Tuesday, October 24th. Rev. Dr. P. Shane Green will officiate. There will be a private interment at Linwood Cemetery. A memorial service will be 2:00pm at St. Paul United Methodist Church with a reception at Hardaway Hall, Midland, GA immediately afterwards, according to Striffler-Hamby Mortuary.
Mr. Hardaway was born September 28, 1919 in Columbus, Ga., the son of Benjamin Hurt Hardaway, Jr. and Louise Buttolph Hardaway.
Mr. Hardaway grew up in Hardaway, FL and Columbus, GA. He attended the 16th Street School and Columbus High School and graduated from the Virginia Military Institute with a B.S. in Civil Engineering in 1940. Mr. Hardaway served during World War II in the Armored Cavalry as aide to General Manton S. Eddy, achieving the rank of Major. He was awarded the Bronze Star and the Silver Star.
Mr. Hardaway was active in business, sports and civic life of Columbus. He was Chairman of the Board of the Hardaway Company, which built bridges, dams and roads. He was a member of the St. Paul United Methodist Church and served on the Columbus, Georgia School Board. He was a member of the Board of Directors of Saint Francis Hospital. Mr. Hardaway was a long-time supporter of Brookstone School and donated a new track to Hardaway High School. He also served as a member of the Board of Directors of Royal Crown Cola. In 2010 he was inducted into the Chattahoochee Valley Sports Hall of Fame.
Mr. Hardaway had a passion for breeding hounds and for all kinds of hunting, especially foxhunting. He established the Midland Fox Hounds in 1950 and enjoyed sharing the sport, welcoming anyone who showed an interest in hunting to Midland. His hounds can be found in hunts all over the United States, as well as in England, Ireland and Australia. He was the Joint Master of the Midland Fox Hounds, Past President of the Masters of Foxhounds Association of America, Director of the American Foxhound Club, Vice President of the Georgia Wildlife Federation; Race Committee Member, Atlanta Hunt Meeting & Steeplechase, Inc., Member of the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance; Past President of the Georgia-Florida Field Trial Club. He was made an Honorary Member of the Masters of Foxhounds Association of England for his expertise in the breeding of fox hounds, and received the Julian Marshall Award from Mrs. Marshall and Terry Griffin, in June 2003 from the Bryn Mawr Hound Show Association.
His family and friends will remember him as a fun-loving man with a sharp sense of humor and a vivid, hilarious way of telling a story. He took his responsibilities to his family, business and community very seriously while being a generous host and the life of many a party. He never lost his boundless enthusiasm for living.
Survivors include his daughters Page Hardaway Flournoy, Mary Lu Hardaway Lampton, Susannah Meade Hardaway, and Ann Hardaway Taylor; his sister Sarah Hardaway Hughston, seven grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren.
The family is very grateful to Beverly Miller, Curt Elver, Adell Hicks, Mark Reisinger, Marie Kogut, Curtis Johnson, Thressa Slaughter, Margie Coleman, Kay Gantt, Sandra Tuggle, Raymond Leonard and Rhonda Robinson for the excellent care they gave Mr. Hardaway.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the U.S. Sportsman's Alliance or St. Paul United Methodist Church.
To sign the online guest registry, please visit www.shcolumbus.com.