Sherard Hardman December 5, 1968 - August 12, 2024

Sherard Hardman was a hardworking, and caring individual. He greatly valued honesty and authenticity. He exemplified these traits though his interactions with those in his family, his friends, coworkers, and neighbors. Born in American Fork on December 5, 1968, Sherard grew up in Heber, Utah with his loving parents Jeff and Joy Hardman. After being an only child for nearly 10 years his family welcomed his sister Jeanette into this world. At a young age he became fascinated with antiques.
He grew up sharing many hobbies with his father Jeff. They dug for antique bottles together, went rockhounding, and searched around the Uinta mountains for old logging camps. At the age of 8 his father took him bottle digging for the first time and his passion for bottles quickly sprouted. Sherard grew up around lots of Family in Heber and spent time with them frequently. At a young age he particularly enjoyed spending time with his now deceased grandmother, Dawna. Through his relationship with her he developed a greater appreciation for antiques and was introduced to Coca Cola. As an adult, you would rarely see him without a coke in his hand.
Soon after graduation from Wasatch High School in 1987 Sherard made the decision to leave Heber to attend UVCC (currently UVU) where he received his associates degree in 1989. In March of 1991 while still living in Orem Sherard met his wife of 32 years, Richelle. They quickly fell in love and after a fairly short courtship were sealed to each other for time and all eternity at the Salt Lake Temple on November 22 of that same year. Sherard graciously adopted his eldest son Skyler who was nearly 1 year old at the time he and Richelle were married. Nearly 9 years later he and Richelle welcomed their second son Zane into the world. Sherard always did his best to treat his boys the same and raised them both as his own.
Sherard’s work ethic carried him far in life. He had several jobs as a teenager and as a young adult. He was never afraid to work multiple jobs and often worked circles around anyone else on the jobsite. In July of 1991 he began working for Rocky Mountain Helicopter, though the company changed owners and names several times the one thing that never changed was Sherard’s commitment to his job. He recently celebrated his 33 rd anniversary at this job. He was committed to those he worked with and made sure his duties were always completed. Any person who has ever worked with Sherard will tell you he is the hardest working person they have ever met.
Sherard was dutiful in his church responsibilities. He often expressed fear at being adequate enough to fill a role that was asked of him. But he never backed down from the challenge and was used as an instrument by the Lord to impact countless lives of those around him. He was an example of loving through action, and though sometimes he didn’t say exactly how he felt about those around him, he always made sure they knew he cared for them through his actions. He demonstrated Christlike love by never backing down from the service of others, he made sure to check in on those around him when they were going through a hard times, and he always tried to make people laugh by telling jokes. While his phrases were unique often referencing obscure 80s and 90s media, and many of his jokes would belong in any bad dad joke arsenal, those who got to know him learned to laugh at his jokes and references and knew he was a good salt of the earth man with a caring heart.
Sherard’s first son Skyler married his wife in 2012 and he enjoyed spending time with their children, Desiree and Jackson. Zane, his second son married his wife Kaylee several months before Sherard’s passing.
Sherard carried his deep love for antiques throughout his entire life. He was able to find treasure in what others saw as trash. He also easily connected with people by means of discussing their family heirlooms and found treasures. While he loved all antiques, he was truly passionate about furniture and bottles. Sherard liked to restore antique furniture and prided himself in his ability to keep them as original as possible. Everyone knows that if you had furniture restored by him, you had to be prepared to make the time when picking it up to hear everything he had learned about that piece while working on it. That truly is what set him apart. He didn’t just have an appreciation for the craftsmanship, nor just the history. But rather he saw himself as part of the life of that piece, just as important as the person who created it. He liked to meld the story along with the craftsmanship so that the legacy of each individual piece could live on in someone else’s home. While he made sure he kept the pieces most valuable to him, he received a lot of fulfillment in knowing that a piece of history was preserved by him even if he’d never see it again. Bottles were his largest passion. He carried on the tradition of digging for bottles with his two sons. He also connected with several people from all walks of life who would like to go bottle digging with him. He would go dig at old city dumps, logging camps, railroad stops, and just about anywhere else he could obtain landowner permission. He was an expert at putting on his archaeology hat and interpreting a historical site so as to understand where artifacts of great significance would be. Medicine bottles were his favorite and he truly loved bottles from any druggist in the state of Utah. He had the goal of obtaining a medicine bottle from each known town in the state. A goal he never achieved, however he still managed to acquire one of the largest collections of medicine bottles in the state of Utah.
Another significant passion of his was classic cars. While he was not in the business of restoring said cars, he loved to go to car shows and appreciate them. You would rarely see him wearing anything other than cowboys boots. He had boots for any occasion.
Sherard deeply loved God and his family, he moved on to the next phase of life on August 12, 2024. He passed away surrounded by his family with his favorite cowboy boots on his feet and a coke in his hand.
Many individuals did their best to provide the best of care to him in his final days. We would like to give a special thanks to everyone at his work, the first responders, and the staff at both Spanish Fork Hospital and Utah Valley Hospital, as well as the LifeFlight crew. We will always love him and his impact in this world will be felt forever.

Funeral Services will be held Friday, August 23, 2024 at 10:00 am to 12:00 pm at The Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints 353 East 400 North,  Spanish Fork, Utah 84660. A viewing will be held prior to the funeral services from 9:00 – 9:45 am. A night viewing will be held on Thursday, August 22, 2024 from 6:00 – 8:00 pm at Walker Funeral Home 187 South Main Street Spanish Fork, Utah 84660. Burial will be at the Heber City Cemetery, 680 North 550 East, Heber City, UT 84032 on Friday, August 23, 2024 at 2:30 pm.