My Memories of Nonco by Charles M. Hardy
Submitted by Charles M. Hardy
Nonco was always stopping in at our house to visit. Mama (Madame Sam, Alice Mistrot Hardy) would always have a little treat for him to eat. He would never eat in our house (only about 300 yds. from his house) but he would take food with him to eat at his house.
Nonco was my "sponsor" for my Confirmation and my Confirmation Name was "Augustine." I will always remember Nonco preparing me for this Sacrament but mainly his deep faith and excitement to escort me down the aisle. To have the Bishop confirm me with Nonco's hand on my shoulder I will remember forever. Always providing soft words of comfort and support, I never ever heard him complain about anything other than he did not like cold weather.
I often went with him to his house to feed the variety of his family members...chickens, ducks, pigeons, turkeys, rabbits, dogs (never saw a cat) that lived in his yard or in pens/cages he had situated in different spots in his back yard. They were always there for him, even though some had freedom to run away, it was incredible to see them get excited when Nonco arrived. Where he got all the food for them I'll never know, but they were all fat.
When I would ride around with my daddy (Samuel Hardy) to potato fields to visit farmers, we would see Nonco often, walking and delivering his Sacred Heart leaflets. Daddy would always stop and ask him if he wanted a ride. He would just wave us off and keep on walking. No one ever turned him away from their home when he would come knocking, he wouldn't stay long, just drop off a leaflet and move on to the next friend. He knew everybody. He was doing this as a friend and Catholic. It was his calling.
At Little Flower School we would get excited to participate in his school plays. We would practice at the Little Flower Auditorium. He would color code all the arrows on the stage and let us know what "color" team we were on and we would follow that color arrow during the performance. Pretty simple, but so was Nonco.
I am so lucky to have grown up during his time. Mama's affection for him was unending, I only got upset when she would give him that last slice of her delicious chicken pie, my favorite.
