Hardin Hosey

Bro. Hardin Irvin Hosey, 77, died at 4:30 PM, Wednesday, August 13, 2014, at his home in the Mt. Hermon Community following a four month struggle with pancreatic cancer. He was born December 26, 1936, on the family farm on Steele Creek, to John Irvin Hosey and Mary Lillian Garner. On November 15, 1958, he married Betty R. Locke of Tishomingo County, Mississippi, who preceded him in death. On June 1, 2009, he married Rachel Beatrice White Reathiford Rich, originally of Lutts, who survives. Other survivors include a brother, Raymond Hosey of Mt. Hermon; a sister, Dot Reynolds of Choate Creek; three children: Jim Hosey of Livingston, Tennessee; Sandy Arnold of Campbellsville, Kentucky; Gene Hosey of Stanford, New York; a stepson, Ricky Reathiford of Jefferson City, Tennessee; two grandchildren and one step-granddaughter.

After graduating from Central High School in May of 1955, Hardin entered the US Army for three years. He completed basic training at Camp Chaffee, Arkansas, and advanced training at Fort Belvoir, Virginia; he was then deployed at Bremerhaven, Germany. While there he and two service buddies made a grand tour of Europe which made for many fond memories.

Hardin had heard God's call to the ministry as a teenager. In 1955, while in the army, he wrote to share this with his home pastor, Bro. Thomas L. Cook at Mt. Hermon, and the church licensed him that October to the ministry. He was later ordained at the Clinton Baptist Church, Clinton, Mississippi in November of 1964, after being called to his first church.

To prepare for the ministry he attended Northeast Mississippi Junior College, Booneville, Mississippi; Clarke Memorial Junior College, Clinton, Mississippi; and graduated with a B.S. in Education from Mississippi College, Clinton, Mississippi in May of 1965. He also completed additional coursework at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky and at Georgetown College, Georgetown, Kentucky.

Hardin served as pastor at Melrose Baptist Church, Yazoo County, Mississippi; West Providence Baptist Church, Ohio County, Kentucky; Squiresville Baptist Church, Owen County, Kentucky; Elkhorn Baptist Church, Taylor County, Kentucky; Buffalo Baptist Church, LaRue County, Kentucky; and Deer Creek Baptist Church, Crittenden County, Kentucky. He also served as an interim pastor and as a hospice chaplain.

Anyone wising to make a donation in his memory is encouraged to do so, with HeartCry Missionary Society. (Website: http://www.heartcrymissionary.com/)