Ted Hart

1930 - 2025

Ted Hart, 50-year resident of Rancho Murieta, passed away peacefully at his home overlooking the 17th fairway. Country Club Board President in the 1980s, Ted was dedicated to the community, as evidenced by his consistent presence at RMCC, CSD and RMA meetings. Even into his nineties, you could find him at the podiums. Born in Denver, Colorado, Ted's was not your average childhood. Enterprising from the start, when in first grade, the family having moved to Los Angeles, he made his spending money selling magazines. Not door to door, however. With their apartment near several bars, he figured out quickly that a cute little kid could do better selling to the patrons occupying the stools. Ted's most excellent childhood adventure was ignited by the labor shortage during World War II. With little help to operate his Wyoming ranch, a family friend requested that Ted work there for the summer of '44. He soon found himself operating machinery; calf-pulling; branding; castrating; harvesting wheat and loving every minute of it. During the Korean war, Ted served as a signalman on the U.S.S. Gregory, a destroyer. Their assignment in Wonsan Harbor, Korea in the winter of 1951 was to bomb the shoreline and pluck downed pilots out of the sea. Ted was very proud of his service, and in the last several years spent every Tuesday at the Veterans Golf Program at Mather coaching wounded veterans. Ted spent most of his working life in the glazing industry. Moving to San Jose in 1963, he started Hart Glass Company, which took part in the explosion of industrial development that was to become Silicon Valley. Ted first noticed the love of his life, Dixie, when he was in eighth grade. She made quite an impression, because it was then he told her that he was going to marry her. They did so on November 22, 1950. Through their 80-plus years together, Dixie was the sweet smile at his side. She made a wonderful home for him and their children, Susan, Steve, and Jeannie. And when they came along, also their seven grandchildren and thirteen great-grandchildren. Children of magical orange-blossom and gardenia-scented Southern California, when asked about their childhoods, Ted and Dixie would respond, "Who wouldn't want to live in Hollywood?" From that beginning and all the way through to the years in Rancho Murieta, for Ted it was a wonderful life.