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Joanne Klunder Hardy

Date of Death: March 21, 2026

Date of Birth: August 24, 1935

Biography:

Joanne Lehman Klunder Hardy, age 90, died in the presence of family on March 21, 2026 at Horizons Senior Living of Brunswick, ME, ending her struggle with dementia.  She was a woman ahead of her time in many ways, and her tiny physical stature and humble demeanor belied the outsize impact she had on the people and communities she encountered.

Joanne was born in Walla Walla, Washington, and grew up on a farm in Dayton, Oregon.  Like her three older siblings, she was valedictorian of her graduating class from Dayton High School.  Joanne attended Oregon State University, where she met and married her first husband, Bruce W. Klunder.  She graduated with a teaching degree and taught elementary school for a year while waiting for Bruce to graduate.  The couple then moved first to New Haven, where Bruce attended Yale Divinity School, and then to Cleveland, by then with two young children.  Bruce took a position as executive director of the Student Christian Union of the YMCA and was ordained to the Presbyterian ministry at the Church of the Covenant in 1962.  Joanne taught nursery school.

Bruce and Joanne were both deeply disturbed by the injustices of racial discrimination and segregation.  They were founding members of the Cleveland chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and in 1962 they chaperoned an integrated group of students on a trip to witness firsthand the indignities of the Jim Crow South.  There, the group had the opportunity to meet John Lewis.  One member of the group asked him how he could say that he did not hate white people after the insults and beatings he had suffered during the Freedom Rides.  “Would you hate a blind man for stepping on your foot?” John Lewis replied.  Throughout her life, Joanne described this moment as changing her life forever. 

On April 7, 1964, Bruce was killed while demonstrating to halt construction of a segregated school in Cleveland.  At age 29, Joanne was a widow, mother of two young children, and focus of national and international attention.  With poise and courage, she called for calm in a city torn by riots and wrote an essay for Ebony magazine that still has relevance more than sixty years later.  One of her greatest gifts to her children was to raise them in a home free of hatred, bitterness, or regret.  Joanne remained an activist for peace and justice throughout her life.

While her children were young, Joanne continued to work part-time as a nursery school teacher.  Later, she went back to school to earn a Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education.  She helped start a daycare center at the Church of the Covenant and taught early childhood education at a local community college.  Long before daycare became a widely accepted option, Joanne advocated for the importance of quality daycare, not only to meet parents’ needs, but also to enhance child development. 

On April 24, 1976, Joanne married George H. Hardy, who was then a Presbyterian minister at the Church of the Covenant.  Seven years later, George and Joanne surprised friends and family with the decision to leave the urban life behind and move to the tiny town of Sunderland, Vermont, where they took over ownership and operation of Hill Farm Inn, an old-style country inn that had been in the Hill Family for nearly 200 years.  Despite their lack of training in hospitality, George and Joanne brought their collective farming, administrative, and management skills to bear, and from a residential kitchen, Joanne personally prepared breakfast and dinner for up to 40 guests each day. 

Next came a nomadic period, while George took on a series of interim ministry positions.  Joanne, always fond of numbers and finance, took up tax preparation and then returned to daycare.  Ultimately, George and Joanne settled in Brunswick, Maine. 

Joanne was guided by a deep and constant inner faith that transcended specific church communities.  Everywhere she has lived, Joanne has been an active member of the local community; an advocate for local, national, and international causes; and a loyal friend.  She has maintained and nurtured contact with family and friends from all stages of her life.  In her later years, she knitted over 100 prayer shawls to comfort friends in need.  She will be remembered with love and missed by all.

Joanne is survived by her husband of 50 years, George H. Hardy; children Doug Klunder and Janice Klunder (Kollol Pal); step-children Martha Hardy (Sarah Weaver) and Henry Hardy; and grandchildren Shonali Pal (Colin Smith) and Anjali Pal.  She is preceded in death by step-son John Hardy; first husband, Bruce W. Klunder; sister, Eileen Lehman Weatherly, and brothers, Sherman Lehman and Mel Lehman; and parents, Russell and Ruth Lehman.

A service will be held at 10:00 am on April 25, 2026, at MidCoast Presbyterian Church, Topsham, ME.  Memorial gifts can be made to Habitat for Humanity 7 Rivers Maine, 11 Elsinore Avenue, Bath, ME 04530, habitat7rivers.org/donate; or to the Rev. Bruce W. Klunder and Joanne Klunder Hardy Social Justice Fellowship at the Southern Poverty Law Center, splcenter.org/klunder.