Wilson Ovett Hardy

SERVICES:  FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 201311:00 A. M. MCCLAIN-HAYS CHAPELVISITATION:  THURSDAY,NOVEMBER 14, 20134:00 - 8:00 P. M.AND FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013  9:00 A.M. UNTIL SERVICE TIMEOFFICIATING:  REV. MARK WILLIAMS INTERMENT: BETHSAIDA CEMETERY  Wilson Ovett Hardy, 86, passed away November 12, 2013 at the State Veterans Home in Kosciusko, MS.He was born November 11, 1927.  Mr. Hardy was a Baptist by faith.  He was preceded in death by his parents Sadie Smith Hardy and Ollie Wilson Hardy; brother, J.C. Hardy; and brother-in-law, Barnard Brantley.He is survived by sisters; Corinne Hardy Brantley, Jane Hardy Johnson (Bo), Lynda Hardy Wood (David), Nancy Hardy Williams (David), and Narcy Hardy Walker (Perry); and by brothers Bobby H. Hardy (Joyce) and Jerry W. Hardy (Tommie); eleven nephews and three nieces.Mr. Hardy graduated from Bloomo High School in Neshoba County in 1947 and entered the U.S. Navy in 1948, serving on the USS Springfield in the South Pacific.  After military service he farmed for a year then did carpentry and painting.  He began his career with Wells Lamont Glove Corporation with a contract to paint the plant in Philadelphia, MS.  He was then employed by the company to work in the turning department where he was a 50 cent per hour line employee and was soon promoted to supervisor.  In 1953 he was promoted to assistant plant manager in Eupora, MS.  He returned to Philadelphia as assistant plant manager, then went to Waynesboro, MS as a plant manager for Wells Lamont.Mr. Hardy was appointed to the Mississippi Board of Manufacturing while at Waynesboro.  He was also appointed as a Colonel on the staffs of Governors Ross Barnett, John Bell Williams, and J.P. Coleman.In 1974 he was promoted to assistant Director of Manufacturing and resided in Memphis. While in that position, he opened a plant for Wells Lamont in Ireland.  After being named Vice President and Director of Manufacturing he went to Chicago, where headquarters for Wells Lamont was located.  When he retired in 1985 as vice president of manufacturing, he was director of all foreign and domestic operations of the corporation, including three Mississippi plants-Philadelphia, Waynesboro, and Eupora.  Other stateside plants were in McGeehe, Arkansas, Oak Grove, Louisiana, and El Paso, Texas.  The foreign plant locations included Juarez, Mexico; Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China; Thailand, Indonesia and Sri Lanka.Mr. Hardy retired after 35 years with Wells Lamont and moved to Florida, then returned to Waynesboro, MS to serve as Wayne County Director of Economic Development and was also named to the State Industrial Development Council.  He later returned to Philadelphia where he was on the Board of Directors for the First Neshoba Federal Credit Union.  After developing Alzheimer’s Disease in 2007 he resided at Neshoba County Nursing Home and later moved to the State Veterans Home in Kosciusko, MS.Pallbearers are his nephews:  Allen Brantley, Tim Brantley, Steve Brantley, Mike Hardy, Ken Johnson, David Wood, John David Williams, Randal Walker, Shane Hardy, and Josh Hardy.