ALUMNI PROFILE
Impact Through Passion
Larry (left) and Lyle Hardesty in June 2009 at the Robinson ranch where they lived from 1948 to 1955.
Passion drives us in many ways. One person’s passion can propel a wave of others to discover their passion. When educator Lyle Hardesty died in June 2019, there was no doubt what he had been passionate about -- students and lifelong learning. Throughout his life, Lyle spent hundreds, if not thousands, of hours with students, whether it was in the classroom or with a musical instrument. Now, Lyle’s memory lives on at his alma mater, the University of Nebraska at Kearney, known then as Kearney State College (KSC), through scholarships awarded to residence hall assistants each year.
After graduating from KSC, Lyle taught one year at Eddyville and then six years at Milligan, while completing a master’s degree in education at KSC in 1969. He then moved to Snyder, where he taught until that school consolidated with Scribner in 1987. He taught at Scribner-Snyder Community Schools until he retired in the early 2010s. In total, he taught more than 45 years, including such subjects as English, music, art, choir, speech, science and Spanish.
Hardesty graduated in 1963 with a Bachelor of Arts in English education. While at KSC, he lived in Men’s Hall, which at the time was under the supervision of house mother Sena Lang. She was known as “Mom Lang” and the residents were considered “her boys.” Mom Lang had a paramount impact on Hardesty and many other students, including Larry Hardesty, Lyle’s younger brother. In the book “Mom Lang – A Remembrance,” complied by Larry Hardesty ’69, MSE ’71, Lyle writes of coming to Kearney State Teacher’s College in 1959 as a “naïve and scared country boy from the Sandhills.” Mom Lang was so much to “her boys.” Lyle Hardesty wrote “Men’s Hall was a family in every sense of the word, and Mom Lang was the head of that family.” Mom Lang would be the one to offer comfort when Hardesty’s father died and was also the one to help Lyle build a list of clients for his business of mowing, snow shoveling, and a variety of odd jobs. The impression Mom Lang had on Lyle was immeasurable. When Mom Lang died, Lyle was one of the first of “her boys” to begin giving to the Sena “Mom Lang” scholarship fund in her name at UNK.
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Multitalented, Lyle painted murals on and in several buildings in Snyder and nearby towns. He also gave private lessons – organ, guitar, piano, vocal – until he was advised for health reasons to discontinue. Even in Lyle's later, slower years, he never forgot about Mom Lang, and he continued to make gifts to the Sena “Mom Lang” scholarship fund. Upon his death, the University of Nebraska Foundation was notified that Lyle left a large part of his estate to the scholarship fund, which allows more scholarships to be awarded to hardworking residence hall advisors at UNK. Current scholarship recipient Sara Ripp of Sumner, Nebraska, notes the impact the scholarship has had on her experience at UNK. “I am very grateful for this scholarship as it makes me proud to be a UNK resident assistant, and the financial assistance helps immeasurably,” Ripp said. Lyle’s estate gift ensures his love for Kearney, Mom Lang and education live on in perpetuity. The passion he had for learning continues to help other students on their educational and life journey.
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