Mary Adelaide Roberts Hardesty

Mary Adelaide Roberts Hardesty Mary Adelaide Roberts Hardesty, 80, passed away at home in her sleep on November 12, 2011. Mary had a long, eventful life, living and traveling all over the world. While living in Hawaii as a young woman, she attended Punahou School and took Hula lessons from the famous Hilo Hattie. Mary lived most of her years in Washington, DC, where she attended Alice Deal Junior High and Woodrow Wilson High School. Mary loved the energy of Washington: the city, its newspaper, public policy and political causes, especially those that championed the needy and the underserved. Mary was a beautiful writer with a fondness for language. In her early 20's, she wrote copy for a TV station in Georgia and for the National Geographic. After raising a family, she went back to school and to writing, completing her master's thesis on political folklore in her 40's. She wrote press releases as the press secretary for Attorney General Mark White, later Governor of Texas. "Mary was a devoted friend," Governor White said on learning of her death. "For almost 40 years my family and I have been the beneficiaries of her indomitable spirit. When I ran for office, Mary offered her talents to the effort. She was without question the most committed volunteer in the campaign. Fantastic is the term for her inspired efforts. She worked harder than anyone, including the candidate." Mary loved poetry and the beauty of the apposite word. She kept close her memory of having been taught by Robert Frost at Middlebury College. Even in her 70's, Mary could complete a New York Times crossword puzzle in less than an hour. She had a fondness for dogs and after she could no longer care for a dog herself, always carried a dog cookie in her pocket in case she ran across someone walking their dog. Mary was a talented hostess, catering her own parties in Washington, DC while her husband Bob worked in the White House during the 1960's. After the family moved to Austin, Texas, she continued to host old Washington friends and new Texas friends at their home overlooking Lake Austin. Mary returned to Washington more than twenty years ago and lived in Kalorama Square before retiring to an assisted living facility in Frederick, Maryland. Mary is survived by her husband Bob, her children Beth, Bruce, John and Ann, her sons in law, Roger Hurst and Steve Chiles, her grandsons, Joshua Garza, Eric Hurst and Alden Hurst.