Rebekah Hardie

Beloved friend, sister, aunt, and educator, Rebekah Anne Hardie, departed this life on April 21, 2025, in El Paso, Texas surrounded by family and friends. Becki, as she was affectionately known, was 71, and despite a vibrant heath, succumbed after a courageous battle to an incurable illness.

Becki was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1954, the daughter of Rebekah Boone Hardie and Dr. Bradford Hardie III, who was serving his medical residency at Johns Hopkins. Shortly thereafter, Becki moved with her parents to El Paso, Texas, where she spent her young life. From an early age, Becki possessed a vibrant love of life, especially when it came to the ability to laugh. After high school, Becki attended undergraduate journalism education at Trinity University in San Antonio and Southern Methodist University in Dallas, followed by an M.B.A. at George Washington University in Georgetown. She spent her early career as a consultant with Arthur Andersen. Ultimately, Becki found a way to integrate her love of both children and horses and pursued a second master's degree in education from Loyola College, with post-graduate training in Montessori education. The remainder of her professional career was spent as a Montessori math and equestrian instructor, before she rose to leadership and served as a Montessori director at three schools in Maryland and Texas. During her life, Becki always found ways to indulge her love of art. At one point, she lived in a small suite above a horse stable in Maryland, decorated with what was likely the greatest collection of art that ever graced a humble stable. If there was ever a child or stranger that Becki failed to make feel like a friend, we never knew of it, and once a friend, she was fiercely devoted and loyal. After her recent retirement, Becki returned to El Paso, to spend her life with family and dear friends.

Becki is survived by three sisters, Leslie Hardie, Tricia Hardie-Washer, and Sara

Lawson, as well as multiple nieces and nephews, and a new generation of adoring grand-nieces and a grand-nephew. She also leaves a group of devoted friends, many of whom go back to her youth, as well as numerous former students who were blessed by her care.

A memorial service will be held in the McKee Chapel at Saint Clement Anglican Church at 810 N. Campbell St. in El Paso, Texas on June 28. Due to Becki's abiding love of horses and children, the family suggests memorial donations be left to Compadres Therapy Inc. of El Paso, a non-profit providing equine therapy services to people with special needs.

To those who knew and loved her, Becki was a truly luminous soul. She possessed a seemingly limitless store of warmth and compassion to everyone who crossed her path, and the most difficult life circumstances never seemed to diminish her unquenchable goodness and optimism. We will all remember her truly infectious laugh, her unbounded generosity, her love of a good story, whether relayed in conversation, of which she was a master, or read in one of her

beloved books, and her smile that could cut through any darkness. We bid you a momentary farewell, dearest Becki, until we can all share laughs and stories again when we are all safely home.