Barbara Rauter Hardman was born April 18, 1944, in Milwaukee, WI, to Frederick William and Doris Hall Rauter. She attended Whitefish Bay High School and went on to attend Whitewater University in Whitewater, Wisconsin.
In 1966, she moved to Atlanta, Georgia, with her first husband and her daughter, Andrea Fisher Hardman. She lived in Atlanta for 10 years, during which time she was a part of the new L'eggs Hosiery venture. She was one of the route women driving all over North Georgia delivering L'eggs Hosiery to grocery stores and drug stores. Barbara then went on to become the "token female" sales representative for General Foods Corporation in Atlanta, calling on grocery stores in the Atlanta area. She married Dan Hardman in 1976, the love of her life, who she met on a "blind date".
In 1979, Barbara and Dan moved to Thomasville with Andrea, Barbara's daughter, who preceded her in death in 1983 at the age of 19.
Dan completed the building of their home in Thomas County in 1980. Barbara loved her home in the woods-it was her castle. Before her retirement, Barbara had spent 15 years in the medical field, then went to work for the Thomas County Library in Thomasville for 16 years, retiring in 2013. She and Dan had many amazing trips over the years-to Alaska, Belize, and Switzerland.
She and Dan have had many amazing "furry" children during their marriage, including four wonderful dachshunds and three amazing cats. Barbara dearly loved her animal children. Barbara also loved cooking and created many an incredible meal for friends and family. She also loved gardening in her huge pots both on the deck and in her front yard.
Barbara rejoined St Thomas Episcopal Church in 2024 and loved her church family. They meant so much to her. She also had special, caring friends in Thomasville, Bev and Lily, who had gone through life's trials and tribulations with her over the decades, as well as an ex-sister-in-law, Jill, in Wisconsin, who constantly buoyed her spirits and shared life with her through their emails. Additionally, her other Wisconsin friend, Jo, who she had known since kindergarten, corresponded with her as well.
Services will be held at St. Thomas Episcopal Church on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, at 1:00 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may go to St. Thomas Episcopal Church music fund.
JoEllyn "Jo" Reitman (Wolf)
Barbara was a dear friend since we were Brownies. We reignited our long friendship decades ago. Both of us were extreme book lovers besides other shared interests. I will forever miss her great friendship and beautiful mind. Rest in peace, Southern Brownie girl.Final hugs, Jo
Jerry Thornbery
On Monday morning, April 7, I was both shocked and saddened when I found the obituary of Barbara Rauter Hardman on the '62 website. She and I had last exchanged emails in the middle of February about our health issues, mine successfully resolved, and hers, I assumed, would be successfully resolved sometime in March. Sadly, this was not the case. I have been distressed about her passing for the past several days.
I cherished my time with Barbara, a time that began in the early fall of 2022 when I mentioned to her ex-sister-in-law that Barbara Rauter and I had been high school classmates. That evening I had an email from Barb that began 30 months of correspondence, mostly about our days attending the same high school and about our interest in dachshunds. I guess you could say that we bonded over dogs.
Through this interaction of emails, letters, and cards, I developed a great appreciation for Barb's kindness to other people and her concern for animals. What was especially remarkable about this friendship was that we did not know each other, not in high school and not as adults. Barbara Hardman just had an innate gift to be a good friend, even to someone like me, whom she had never met in person.
In our correspondence we learned that we had known similar people and had lived in similar places. For example, just a short time before our initial contact I had gotten back in touch with the person who was her 1961 prom date and I knew the other couple who was with them, even though one of them had attended another high school. Between the spring of 1969 and the summer of 1970 Carrie and I lived in a garage apartment on 8th Street in Atlanta. A few years later Barb and Dan Hardman moved to 8th Street. In fact, Barb first came to Atlanta about the same time I did but our paths never crossed.
Barbara Rauter Hardman was impressive in many ways, especially in her ability to hold on to friends. Her capacity to deal with her life's tragedies, big and small, bordered on the heroic. She died too soon. The only consolation for me in this sad time is that, like the others she touched, I am a better person for having known her.
Jerry Thornbery
jerrythornbery@gmail.com
Diana Cunningham (Larke)
I was so very sorry to hear about Barb. I wasn't aware of her health problems and was planning on sending her a card and letter for her birthday on April 18th. We had been friends since Cumberland and re-connected about 4 years ago. She was happy with her life in Georgia and had started writing poetry. She sent me one about some of our summer days at Atwater Beach, Those were the days, dear Barb!