On Darlington East Road off Highway 546 on the outskirts of Bellville, there is an Amish farmhouse selling baked goods during the spring, summer and fall months. There’s a sign on the highway that Maxine Hardin points out to me as we drive to the farm. Though we plan to purchase some of the Amish baked goods, this isn’t the reason for our visit.
Maxine wanted to show me the farmhouse where she grew up, having lived there her first 18 years. The Amish woman at the farm graciously gave us a tour of the house and Maxine grew teary-eyed as she was surrounded by the shadows of long-ago memories of her parents and siblings and their life on the farm.
Born November 5, 1927, Maxine Lois Schonauer was one of seven children born to Clarence and Ethel Schonauer. Maxine has a twin brother, Max Lewis. Now 85 years old, with a lifetime of memories behind her, she doesn’t pause very often to reflect on the past. “I like to do things,” she explains. “I like to keep busy.”
Busy is an understatement when it comes to Maxine. Until this past March, she still worked three days per week at the Hanley Road Taco Bell.
General Manager, Janet Behrendsen, who’s worked with Maxine for the past eleven years, gushes when it comes to talking about Maxine. “She was fantastic with the customers,” Janet explains. “People would specifically come in on the days Maxine worked, just to see her. I wish I had a whole team of Maxine Hardin’s because if I did, I would have the dream team.”
Right out of school, Maxine went into the work world. One of her first jobs was with the Richland County Farm Bureau and she went on to work at Ohio Bell, Embarq, the Mansfield Journal and eventually retired from Sprint after 37 years.
She met Eldon Leedy while still in high school. “He looked at me and I looked at him. That was it!” she said of their immediate attraction to one another. They married in January of 1951 and had their first child, Terry, in 1952. Together they had three children: Terry Leedy (of Lexington), Darryl Leedy (of Columbus) and Michelle Leedy Tackett (of Bellville). They bought a farm in Bellville and settled into family life, with the kids attending Clear Fork Schools.
“We did a lot of cow chasing back then,” she said of their cattle that would constantly get out of their pastures. “I would come home and have to call Terry and Darryl from school to come home and fetch the cows!”
Those years were very busy, with raising three children and working and caring for a farm. “I know I missed some of Terry’s football games and other things the kids did, but I did get to a lot with them,” she stated.
Her greatest joy was always being a mother, then a grandmother and today a great-grandmother.
When her marriage to Leedy ended after 32 years, she moved into an apartment in Bellville with her then-teenage daughter, Michelle. That’s where she met Clifford Eugene Hardin, who managed the apartments Maxine was living in. They dated four years before marrying on October 6, 1984. Between Maxine and Cliff, they have six children (one deceased, Steven, in 1998), ten grandchildren and eight great-grand-children with one more on the way.
Now without a job for the first time since she was a teenager, Maxine isn’t worried about not being busy enough. “I go to the YWCA at least four to five times per week and exercise on the machines and do water aerobics. I like the treadmill too,” she said of her average day. “Now that I’m not at Taco Bell, I can cook more for Cliff and do more baking.” As she talked, she pulled a fresh batch of brownies out of the oven and her home smelled divine.
“I worked till I was 85,” she explained, “because I love people.” She looked over at her husband, Cliff. “I like Cliff too,” she said with an infectious laugh.
She’s also involved with her church – New Life Church of Christ – where she’s been an active member for the past 62 years.
Her current passions include lunch with friends and time with her great-grandchildren. “This winter, my great-grandson, Samuel, and I built two snowmen. I still love the outdoors,” she noted. She makes at least two to three snowmen every winter, even if she does it by herself.
When asked what she would like to have tried doing, she was quick to say, “Water skiing. I always wanted to try that, and fly an airplane. I did cross country skiing but never downhill. I wanted to try that too.” There’s a glint in her eye as she’s considering these things as if she might give them a try. “I used to go horseback riding a lot,” she recalled. “I miss that. I miss riding.”
Cliff and Maxine have traveled all over the United States, but she loved the beaches the most, “My favorite beaches were Myrtle, Virginia, Venice and Pensacola.”
“You forgot Fort Myers and Naples,” Cliff reminded her.
“Oh yeah, those too!” she added.
If Maxine could go back and change anything in her past, she says she would have liked to go to college. “Actually, I wanted to join the Navy so I could go to college. Those Navy uniforms were cute, you know,” she said.
Cliff and Maxine still go out to eat a couple times a week, have Bible Study and Maxine often has lunch with friends she’s known since her early days. Though they don’t travel much anymore, Cliff and Maxine are hoping to attend a family wedding down in Athens, Georgia this summer.
“Cliff and I have a great life,” she said, smiling warmly at her husband of 28 years. “We have a wonderful marriage. We’re not done yet!”
“I worked till I was 85,” she explained, “because I love people.” She looked over at her husband, Cliff. “I like Cliff too,” she said with an infectious laugh.
