LINCOLNVILLE — Willard Harold “Swiss” Hardy Sr., 93, of Youngtown Road in Lincolnville, passed away June 22, 2016, at the Veterans Home in Augusta.

Born in Rockland on June 10, 1923, he was the son of Harold R. “Si” and Lillie E. Packard Hardy, and lived his life at the family farm on Youngtown Road in Lincolnville.

He graduated from Camden High School in 1941 and attended six months at the University of Maine, and always regretted not being able to complete college. Wearing many hats in his lifetime, Swiss became a full time farmer, raising 5,500 chickens, plus cows and other animals. A cousin to Frank Rankin, he worked more than 50 years at Rankin's Hardware in Camden. He ran a blueberry crew, drove a school bus for 25 years, and was a Waldo County deputy sheriff. He served the Town of Lincolnville at different times as code enforcement officer, sealer of weights, animal control officer, board of selectmen member and planning board member. He also worked at Camden Farmers Union, Knox Woolen Mill, The Boat Shop in Rockport building boats, landscaping, driving an oil delivery truck, Fisher Engineering - welding plows, The Hughes Mill in Camden and as a landlord.

He was a lifetime member of Tranquility and Penobscot View Granges, and as a 32nd Degree Mason was a member of King David #62 Masonic Lodge in Lincolnville, and a member of the Anah Temple Shrine in Bangor. He was a longtime member of the United Christian Church in Lincolnville Center, where he served as board chairman.

Swiss enjoyed dancing every Saturday night. His wife, Gladys, especially liked dancing the old fashioned waltz with him. In the 1950s, he started a school band at Lincolnville Central School and they took part in parades at the Bangor Eastern Musical Festival. In the early 1960s, he helped build the Lincolnville Center Community Building. A practicing dowser, he used an apple branch for a divining rod, located and dug a well near the brook, which lasted many years.

For many years, he lit the wood stove at the United Christian Church at 5 a.m., so the church would be warm for the 11 a.m. service. He later installed a used furnace and that one was replaced with a new one at the church in 2001. He also sharpened knives and scissors and cut people's hair.

He was also a beautiful singer with the Barbershoppers and was named “Barbershopper of the Year” when he was forced to stop because of his memory.

He was an excellent swimmer and foot racer with the youngsters.

He served with the U. S. Army from January of 1943 to March of 1946. Swiss often told the story that while serving in the Army, when ordered to pick up cigarette butts, he always refused, often landing him with KP duty. He was a great cook until dementia took his memory away.

He was first married to Virginia Carr on Easter Sunday in 1946. They had Steve, Danny and Will. At age 33 she died of breast cancer. When Steve was little they took him to grange meetings and dances at Tranquility Grange Hall in Lincolnville in a basket. When Dan and Will came along they hired a babysitter.

In 1957 he married Nancy Kingsbury and they had Lisa in 1960 and Ben in 1964. They divorced in 1989 and she died of cancer in 1995. His son, Danny, passed away at the age of 42 in 1991. On May 4, 2004, Swiss married his loving dance partner, Gladys (St. John) Dodge. They were married by their friend, Rosey Gerry, in the kitchen of their farm home on the Youngtown Road.

For his 80th birthday, Gladys, with the help of his family, put on a supper and dance in Swiss' honor at the Tranquility Grange Hall in Lincolnville, with 200 people invited. Out of the 200 cards he received, only one was a duplicate.

If anyone read his book Still Going Strong at 85, you've pretty much read of his life's trials and tribulations.

In addition to his parents; and his son, Danny; Swiss was predeceased by his first wife, Virginia; his second wife, Nancy; his brother and sister-in-law, Charles and Neta Hardy, and his sister and brother-in-law, Dorothy and Gino Santi.

He is survived by his wife, Gladys; his three sons, Steve and his wife, Jane, of Lincolnville, Will Jr. and his partner, Suzanne Webber, of Newton, Mass., and Ben Hardy and his wife, Gretchen, of Haverhill, Mass.; one daughter, Lisa Hagin and her husband, Linwood, of Travelers Rest, S.C.; three grandsons, Joshua Hardy and his wife, Denise, Eli Hardy and his wife, Kate, and David Harold Hagin and his wife, Nichole; a granddaughter, Heather Hagin Heavner and her husband, Caleb; eight great-grandchildren; many nieces and nephews; his caring step-children, Judson and Pamela Dodge of Union, Carolyn Dodge of Rockland, Marie Flaherty and her husband, Mike, of Warren, and James Dodge and his partner, Traci Cultera, of Hope, as well as several step-grandchildren.

A funeral service will be held Sunday, July 3, at 1 p.m. at United Christian Church, 18 Searsmont Road in Lincolnville Center. The Rev. Dr. Susan Stonestreet will officiate. The service will include a Masonic Service conducted by the officers and members of the King Davids Lodge of Masons, Lincolnville, and conclude with military honors.

Interment will be at on Friday, July 8, at 2 p.m. at Youngtown Cemetery on Route 52 in Lincolnville.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the King Davids #62 Masonic Lodge, P.O. Box 431, Lincolnville, ME 04849.

Funeral arrangements are with Burpee, Carpenter & Hutchins Funeral Home.