Clay M. Hardin

This memorial is dedicated to Clay Hardin. He left us way too soon after a short but brave battle with cancer.  We will always love and cherish his memory and will miss him so much.

Clay was born on Oahu, HI in 1969 to Kathleen and Ralph Hardin. Shortly after his birth, he and his family relocated to Franklin, TN where he grew up. He graduated from Montgomery Bell Academy in 1987. In 1991 he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Furman University, Greenville, SC, where he was President of the Investments Club and tutored fellow students in economics, calculus, and statistics.

After graduation, Clay moved back to Franklin and worked in the Davidson County Circuit Court Clerk's office, where his career as a "computer geek" began. Clay’s computer skills were mostly self-taught. He created the first computer program to post the public docket of each Judge’s schedules. In his free time, he attended weekly meetings at Telelink, Nashville’s first commercial Internet service provider. Here he learned about the newest Internet technologies and continued to hone his computer skills. In short, he embraced technology and never looked back.

In 1997 Clay became a web developer at Speed Serve in Nashville. In 1998, Buy.com purchased Speed Serve and he spent a couple of years as a software engineer for Buy.com in Nashville. This job led him out west with a move to Santa Monica, California. After leaving Buy.com, Clay became a senior software engineer for the start-up, uMogul. But Clay wasn’t all business. He embraced the California lifestyle in many ways, including taking sailing lessons. He often sailed out to Catalina Island with his instructor. And he brought nautical lingo and knot-tying expertise back east. He continued to sail on vacay and had a love for it. Boat ornaments would even become a staple of Hardin Christmas trees as did sunset cruises with Jenn.

When uMogul closed their doors, Clay found himself back in Franklin, TN. For the past 20 years, Clay has worked as a Senior Software Engineer at Optum/IT Services in Cool Springs. During his time at Optum, Clay traveled to India where he worked, explored the culture, made new friends, and became a real fan of authentic Indian food. He loved working closely with various teams in the states and in India. He enjoyed being part of a mentoring program that allowed him to work with “the youngins" in the company and could be counted on to have a proverbial dad joke on standby at the morning scrum meetings.

In 2002, Clay realized his life had focused on either school or work and little adventure, so he took a sabbatical from work to travel the world. Clay set out on his own and backpacked Europe for 3 months. He traveled all over Europe by train and stayed at hostels where he met other young travelers from various countries, striking up new friendships and travel buddies. Clay journaled and photographed his way through favorite cities such as Florence, Madrid, and Prague. When he came back home, he had a lot of great adventure stories to share with family and friends.

Clay met the love of his life and best friend, Jennifer George in December of 2004. Jenn always said to her "it was love at first sight" and knew he was the one she would spend her life with. A year later, Jenn moved to Franklin to live with Clay and they began to build a home and life together. They filled their time with cooking, going to music concerts, traveling, and of course spending time with their beloved pups Augi, Jack and Kaia. They married in 2011, barefoot on the beach, on Jekyll Island, Ga surrounded by close family members.

Clay was known for his generous spirit, ingenuity, wit, and devotion to those he loved. He loved all types of music from alternative to classic rock to Buffet or Prog Rock. He was an adventurous foodie and especially loved Asian and Indian food – the hotter, the better! Clay enjoyed cooking and was a pro in the kitchen and on the grill. He was always up for chilling out with a cold beer or glass of wine. He also had a love for fast cars. He enjoyed taking his Porsche Boxster out on sunny days. No doubt that right now, Clay and his beloved yellow lab Jack are either cruising in that car with the top down, playing their favorite game, “toy search and rescue” or curled up on the couch with his iPad and a glass of wine.

Clay was simply a kind, honorable, and decent man. There was no better husband, son, or friend. We are forever grateful for the time we were able to spend with him. He will be greatly missed by all who knew him.

Clay is survived by his beloved wife Jennifer George Hardin of Franklin, TN; his parents, Kathleen Haynes of Hendersonville, TN, and Ralph Hardin of Spring Hill, TN; his brother, Kyle Hardin (Michelle) and niece, Shelby Hardin of Atlanta, GA. Clay is predeceased by maternal grandparents, Joe D and Lucy Haynes of Castalian Springs, TN, and fraternal grandparents, Fred and Ruth Hardin of Wichita, KS.

The family wishes to express appreciation to everyone who helped in Clay’s care and supported us over the past few months, especially Sandy Jordan and loving Haynes and Hardin cousins. The love and kindness shown to us will touch our hearts forever.

There will be a memorial service directly followed by a Celebration of Life on January 14, 2023 in Franklin, TN. Details are being finalized and we will post updates on this site as they are available. We invite friends, family, and co-workers to join us. No tears allowed - we are going to turn our tears into laughter and a joyous remembrance of Clay. We plan to tell Clay stories, listen to his favorite music, eat tasty food and raise our glasses to the brilliant, funny, courageous, and one-and-only Clay Hardin.