William P. Hardy

PORTLAND – Bill Hardy, husband, father, trial lawyer, mentor, and friend passed away on July 16, 2022. His was a life well-lived.

Bill was grateful for the 55 years he spent with his wife, Lona Eldridge Hardy. They shared triumphs and defeats, heartaches and simple pleasures, but most of all their love for each other and their son, Joseph Lee Hardy. Joe and his wife, Kelly and their 10-year-old son, Jackson now live in El Cerrito, Calif.

After his family, Bill most loved the law. For 35 years he practiced his craft in Hardy, Wolf & Downing, the firm he founded in 1976 and which carries his name today. Bill represented only plaintiffs in civil cases and criminal defendants against business and government. From his first day of law school, law was as natural as breathing. He thrived on cases others thought unwinnable. Witnesses feared his cross-examination. The occasional loss was crushing. Waiting for a jury as it filed into the courtroom with a verdict was his idea of high drama.

Bill was born on Oct. 7, 1944 in Farmington to Joseph and Beatrice Hardy. He grew up in an 18th century farmhouse without running water, plumbing, electricity or central heating. The nearest neighbor was over a mile away. Early on, Bill learned the necessary skills of farm life –cutting wood, milking cows and hauling water.

Bill was curious about many things. He read voluminously and retained information well as a child and young adult. He went to Colby College. College was interrupted while he served in the Air Force for three years, including a year making films in Vietnam. The year 1968 found him in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) documenting the Tet Offensive. After a brief stint as a news producer, Bill returned to Colby, graduated and attended University of Maine Law School. At law school, he managed the Law Review and graduated with distinction.

Bill retired from active law practice in 2000. After, he and Lona lived briefly in South Carolina, they moved to Napa in 2003. From 2003 to 2007 Bill was a docent exploring local artifacts and history with 4th graders throughout the Valley.

He and Lona pursued another of their loves, golf, joining the Napa Valley Country Club in 2003. If you couldn’t find him, the driving range was where to look. Bill was elected to the board of directors in 2019 and served as its secretary.

Bill believed in education. In 2008, he joined the Napa Valley College Foundation. He was its president for six years. While president, he initiated the Napa First Scholarship exclusively for Napa-County resident students, raising over $1 million for its endowment. Bill also headed the drive to provide growth to the viticulture program which has blossomed into a plan for a larger building to accommodate more students.

Since 2012, dozens of Justin Siena High School mock trial-students profited from his mentorship, tutelage and encouragement to become confident young people. He coached the team to eight consecutive county championships and state mock trial tournaments.

Bill is also survived by his brother, Rev. James Fletcher and his wife, Paula of Scarborough, a sister, Barbara Linnell of South Portland; several nieces and nephews.

A funeral service celebrating Bill’s life will be held on Friday, July 29 at 1 p.m. at the State Street Congregational Church, 159 State St., Portland. Burial will be private.

Arrangements are under the direction of the Conroy-Tully Walker Funeral Home, 172 State St., Portland. To view Bill’s memorial page, or to share an online condolence, please visit http://www.ConroyTullyWalker.com.