Hardy, William Wallace

Part 1 was recorded on February 2nd, 2023 in Tucson, Arizona.  It covers the following themes: 

b. 1936 

  • Childhood in the Binghampton area near present-day River Road and Alvernon. Family history and grandparents’ experience running a small farm. 

  • The Rillito River and its surroundings. 

  • Childhood chores. 

  • Attending Davidson Elementary School when it was run by the Mormon community. 

  • Postwar development in the Binghamton area. 

  • Monsoons and river floods. Dealing with summer heat. 

  • Walking to school.  

  • Pastimes: radio, music, games, Wetmore Pools, kites, Sabino Canyon. 

  • Downtown Tucson and Ronstadt’s Hardware. 

  • Memories of World War II. 

  • Work at brother’s service station in Winslow, AZ as a throughout childhood. 

  • Trips to the Mormon temple in Mesa. 

  • Enlisting in the Army and work as a quartermaster in Korea in the immediate aftermath of the Korean War. 

Part 2 was recorded on February 9th, 2023 in Tucson, Arizona. It covers the following themes: 

  • Discharge from Amy in 1957 and employment at a service station in Tucson. 

  • Attending beauty school. Work as a hairdresser. 

  • Work at Jensen’s gun shop from the mid-1960s to mid-1970s. 

  • Changes in gun culture over Hardy’s life. 

  • Buying a house and starting a stable on the west side of Tucson in the 1970s. Description of the Silverbell and Grant area. 

  • Running a small earth moving business. 

  • Changes in hunting and shooting culture. 

  • Increase in animal population management. 

  • The Tucson Rifle Club. 

  • Involvement with Arizona Game and Fish bighorn sheep releases in the Catalina Mountains. 

  • Relationship between hunting and environmental communities. 

  • Role in popularizing the use of binoculars on tripods for hunting. 

Aengus Anderson