Charles Clayton Hardenburger, Jr.

Charles “Chuck” Clayton Hardenburger Jr. of Haddam, age 88, died on July 29th, 2024 at the Heritage Care Center in Fairbury, NE. He was born at the family rural Mahaska home on June 14th, 1936 to Charles, Sr. and Pauline (nee) Shara Hardenburger and was baptized on April 17th, 1949 at the Haddam United Methodist Church by profession of faith.
Chuck attended the Haddam public school system with the only exception of 4th grade at White Hall country school. He graduated from Haddam Rural High School with the class of 1954. He continued his education receiving an Associate Degree from Fairbury Junior College before completing his Bachelor of Science Degree from Kansas State University in 1958. After college, he volunteered to serve in the US Navy on active duty until 1962 and received an honorable discharge from the US Naval Reserve in 1969 as a Lieutenant Junior Grade.
After the Navy, he moved back to Haddam and began farming part-time, as well as, teaching chemistry and math at Morrowville High School until 1963. He then began farming full-time with his father Charley.
On June 3, 1976 he married LaMoyne (Chancellor) Cohn. Together, they owned and operated Hardenburger Farms for the next 48 years. Chuck had a passion for being a good steward of the land, and early on, he developed his red angus cattle herd, well before the breed was desired by the American consumer.
He enjoyed working in his shop creating various equipment to be utilized on the farm. He was an innovator, developing a no-till planting system before the practice was widely accepted within the industry.
Chuck is survived by his wife LaMoyne and stepson Ken (Nancy) Cohn of Lincoln, NE. He is also survived by his first wife Deanna (Frommer) Hardenburger of Olathe, KS and their sons Clay (Lisa) Hardenburger of Campbellsport, WI and Paul (Becca) Hardenburger of Hutchinson, KS. Chuck has seven grandchildren, Matthew and Gregory Cohn; Viktor, Masha, and Anastasia Hardenburger; and Jacob and Julia Hardenburger.
He was preceded in death by his parents, brother Bill Hardenburger and sister-in-law Janice, sister Donna (Hardenburger) Kennedy and brother-in-law Harold, and his mother-in-law Irma Chancellor.

Services will be Friday, August 30, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. at Haddam United Methodist Church in Haddam. www.gerdesmeyerfh.com