Seaborn Hardeman

From 6-22-14

In our early years in Covington, I kidded our pharmacist, Dr. Lanier Hardeman that I might as well bring my check to him each month. With our young children, we required a lot of baby formula and various pharmaceutical supplies each month. Dr. Hardeman was an older gentleman, probably in his late 30's, and he always had a smile on his face with a twinkle in his eyes. He was a very friendly fellow, and was well thought of throughout the county and state. His son was in my Civics class, so he always seemed to be especially glad to see me, but actually he was glad to see every customer that came thru the door. He made the mistake one day of asking me if He could do anything for our boys basketball team, and I was ready with an answer. I told him,"I would love to have some vitamins and chewing gum for my players,"which he provided for several years. My wife Jan would write little messages of encouragement and place them with the pack of gum in each locker with their freshly cleaned uniform. I remember one day one of our guys was chewing gum, and our Principal came to me to complain, and said,"your players think they are special," and he went silent when I said,"we work hard to make all of our players special." After several weeks of building a relationship with Dr. Hardeman something strange happened. One day he invited me into his little office and he said,"I have a major decision to make, and I would like to share my thoughts confidentially with you. A prominent pharmacist had been selling the state pharmaceutical exam and as President of the state board his influence would probably determine the penalty. As he talked and told about how that pharmacist had dedicated his life to being a success, I recognized the person that had broken the rules, and He said," I figured you might, being from that area." While most of us played and had fun in high school, this student spent every spare moment working in the drug store. I knew he wanted to leave the little mill town and make something out of himself. In short time he owned the drug store and a couple of other stores. But greed and a desire for just a "little more," led him to start selling the state license exam. Dr. Hardeman, a very gentle and compassionate man stated,"we have no choice, but to take his state license away and he will still have to answer to the court system of Georgia. Being that I was one of the newest teachers, I was awarded the honor of teaching 5 Civic classes a day. I wasn't very good early in the day, but by the afternoon I was pretty good. I had a young student in my first period class named Seaborn Hardeman, who I recognized rather quickly that he was brilliant. When someone would ask a tough question trying to show up a young teacher like me, I would say ,"that is a great question, Seaborn would you answer that question." Seaborn, with what I believed to be a photographic memory never failed to deliver the answer. You could see the same traits in him that his dad possessed. This student had success written all over him. After graduating from Vanderbilt University he was pursuing his medical degree in Texas. When he and two classmates were planning to attend a wedding, one of the other boys wanted to drive his Jaguar Sports car. The young driver was unfamiliar with the power of a jaguar at a high rate of speed, and lost control of the car as it went over a Galveston sea wall. All three young men were killed. This terrible loss of their outstanding son, who had so much potential, left a permanent scar on the Hardemans. I'm not sure I ever saw that same smile or twinkle in the eyes of Dr. Hardeman again. I later had their fine daughter, Sally in my class, and every day when I called her name, my memory went back to Seaborn. One day Dr. Hardeman told me ," if Pete" his nickname for his son, had been driving the accident never would have happened. I believe that Seaborn might have been the man that would have found a cure for cancer. What a tragic loss of a brilliant young man and two other talented friends.