Camilla Ann Haugarth Hardee, a loving wife of 43 years, a devoted mother and sister, a dedicated friend to so many, and an accomplished business professional who took pride in helping women in the workplace, passed away prematurely on Wednesday, June 10, going in peace as her husband and sister-in-law held her hands. She was 64 years old.
A memorial service for Camilla will be on Wednesday, June 24th at 6:30 p.m. in the Chapel of Wade Family Funeral Home, 4140 W. Pioneer Parkway, Arlington, 76013.
Camilla, or Cami, was born on August 2, 1955, in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, but she lived most of her life in Texas. Her parents, Walter and Connie Haugarth, sold their farm to purchase a citrus grove in the Rio Grande Valley, moving the family to Mission, Texas, when Cami was 5 years old. Cami stayed in Mission until graduation from Mission High School in 1973.
She met her spouse, Gary Hardee, in 1974 at San Antonio College, and within a year they were engaged. They married on January 1, 1977, in Mission. The couple lived in Columbia, Missouri, and Jackson, Tennessee, before their yearning for great brisket, Palmetto Inn chips, and tacos that were not covered in Thousand Island dressing brought them back to Texas.
Cami, who graduated from Trinity University in 1976 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, worked as a journalist at the North San Antonio Times, the Jackson Sun in Tennessee and the Arlington Citizen-Journal in Texas before joining Hunt Oil Company as a communications specialist. She earned her MBA from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1989. She retired in 2015 from a Hunt-affiliated company, Woodbine Development Corporation, as senior vice president for marketing.
While at Woodbine, she was part of the team that developed numerous resort hotels, including Hyatt Hill Country in San Antonio; Hyatt Las Vegas; Hyatt Regency Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona; and Hyatt Lost Pines in Bastrop. She was a true visionary for linking resort themes and design to the history of the people who settled the land where the hotels were developed. After retirement from Woodbine, Cami started her own development consulting and marketing services company, Hardee Partners, LLC.
Though successful in business, Cami's overriding passion was for her two boys and their incredible wives – Taylor and Katherine “Kassi” Johnson Hardee of Austin, and Evan and Annemarie Campbell Hardee of Dallas. She took tremendous pride in connecting all family members through her extensive ancestry research and would develop family trees for any friend who wanted one. Her research uncovered, among many fascinating discoveries, Gary's family ties to George Washington.
She loved traveling worldwide, recently completing an 8,000-mile driving trip across the U.S. with her husband as well as traveling to Australia and New Zealand. She also loved animals, once serving as a docent and marketing board member at the Dallas Zoo, and often expressed her joy in life through music. She was in the high school band, played clarinet and the piano and, with her sisters, always led the family singalong at Christmas. We know she is in heaven and suspect that she is organizing a band playing instruments that she didn't even know existed.
In addition to her husband, sons and their spouses, Cami is survived by her two sisters, Marcia Haugarth and Sue Fiske; her mother-in-law, Helen Joanne Hardee; her sisters- and brother-in-law, Karen Terry, Jackie and Paul Hardee, Mary and Don Richardson, and Mary Haugarth; and numerous loving and supportive nephews and nieces. She was preceded in death by her parents, Walter and Connie Haugarth, and her brother, Stan Haugarth.
Donations can be made in Cami's honor to the Dallas Zoological Society.
Wade Family Funeral Home
817-274-9233