Sylvia Sue Hardwick

Sylvia Sue Burnside Hardwick, 86, of Abingdon, was born on November 22, 1939, in Huntington, WV, and returned to the Lord on August 8th following a sudden stroke in her home with her son by her side. Looking forward to meeting Jesus, she died gently with a lovely smile on her face.

Sylvia, the daughter of Newton and Alma Burnside, was saved and baptized at the St. Albans Church of God and led a life marked by deep faith. She had been a member of the Mill Creek Baptist Church, Spring City Baptist Church, Abingdon Bible Church, and Pilgrim Baptist Church. She returned to Abingdon Baptist Church for the last years of her life. Whether watching on YouTube or in person, the church service and visiting with her church family were the highlights of her week.

She was happily married to Jimmy Hardwick for 63 years; she is said to have deserved many awards. Her first award would be for lifesaving. Jimmy always thought that he could swim. On the first day of what would be an inauspicious honeymoon to Florida, she returned from the room to discover Jim at the bottom of the motel pool. She dragged him out and “beat the water out of him.” They went to the beach for the day, and after the severe sunburn set in, they threw their beach towels over the plastic-covered seats of their ’56 Ford, drove home to Virginia that same night, and started their life farming and raising sons, Timothy Wayne and Glenn Alan. The next award was for her culinary skills. She was known at church gatherings for her great yeast rolls; her family relished her cat-head biscuits, and her grandkids devoured her crunchy, golden, donut-like pancakes. After cooking fried chicken for her new groom, he revealed he was not a poultry lover—in fact, he downright hated chicken and really liked soup beans. While they did not eat beans at every meal, a conservative estimate would surmise Sylvia cooked some twenty-three thousand pots of beans or—somebody call the Guinness Book of Records—some twenty-five million, three hundred and fifty thousand beans. She canned about as many tomatoes. She loved through food and must have loved everyone, from the generosity the “pie maker” showed over decades of cooking for others. Her other awards would be for quilting and sewing, and for serving as the head publicist and salesperson for her son’s book, where the accounting department may say she gave away more copies than sold. :)

Sylvia loved visiting with her friends from the church. She enjoyed traveling, taking trips to California and Nova Scotia, and traveling across our country by bus, and especially loved going with Jim to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. Sylvia never had to brush up on her lifesaving skills; Jim never so much as dipped a toe into the ocean or ventured inside the gates of a hotel pool.

She is survived by her son, Glenn Alan Hardwick, and his wife, Lisa Hobbs Hardwick; her sister-in-law of sixty-eight years, Patsy Shelley, and her husband, Frank; and her brother, Richard Burnside, and his wife, Andrea. She had three beloved granddaughters, Megan Hardwick; Erin Yates (Shayne) and their children, Ellie, Canyon, and Colt; and Mandy Dorton (Ben) and their children, Tucker and Parker. She left a niece, Becky Shelley; nephew David Burnside (Edith); Christi Brummitt (Mike); and niece Joanne Burnside and nephew Jerry Burnside.

A celebration of Sylvia’s life will be on Saturday, August 15th, at Abingdon Bible Church, 16210 Elementary Drive, with visitation at 10:00, service at 11:00, and a procession to Forest Hills Cemetery for a graveside service and burial. Friends and family will serve as pallbearers. In lieu of flowers, the family requests a donation to Abingdon Bible Church, where God’s love and mission continue closest to Sylvia’s heart.

The family of Sylvia Sue Burnside Hardwick is being cared for by Farris Funeral Service & Crematory, 427 E. Main Street, Abingdon, VA 24210.