Chuck Hardaway was a senior when he spotted Marge Burman, a junior, at Mackenzie High School in Detroit, Mich. in 1950. They were in chemistry class together, and when they saw each other a spark lit a flame that has been burning brightly for five decades.
“The best thing I ever did was picking her,” Chuck said.
This is spoken by a man who is a decorated combat veteran, flying more than 100 missions in Vietnam for the U.S. Air Force, a retired officer and a leader in both his community and the business world.
Sitting at their home in Maple Valley, the memorabilia and photographs from the many missions and duty stations around the world tells a story about Marge and Chuck Hardaway’s 56 years of love and commitment to each other.
The early years
Chuck, now 77 years old, was a star athlete in high school who said he doesn’t remember taking a lot of books home.
Marge, whose name is Margaret, but she said Chuck gave her the nickname, was the class valedictorian.
“When I went to college I played football,” Chuck said. “Marge was the smart one.”
Chuck went to Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio, which was founded by Methodists in 1842 and continues an affiliation with the church today. Marge attended Wayne State University in Detroit, Mich.
Chuck described a much different college experience than a student might find at a college or university today.
“We had mandatory chapel and the girls could only go out once or twice a week.” He also remembered the girls also had to be back in their rooms by midnight.
Chuck and Marge were married in 1954 and the next year he graduated from the university. A turning point in the life of the couple came when Chuck decided to join the Air Force. It placed Chuck on a road that took him from Texas to Hawaii to Vietnam, and eventually the couple landed in Maple Valley.
Along the way he earned a master’s degree in business in 1970 at George Washington University in Washington D.C. The next stop was a tour in Vietnam where he flew 104 combat missions as a forward air controller.
“My job was to spot the enemy and call in the attack,” Chuck said. “Everyone knew if they shot us down the attack would be stopped. We were low level and it wasn’t unusual to take a couple of thousand rounds of fire every night. But I was never hit.”
Chuck received the Distinguished Flying Cross, seven air medals, the Meritorious Service Medal, three Air Force Commendation medals and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry.
His career as an Air Force officer highlights many of the historical milestones of America in the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s.
When Chuck was stationed in Hawaii the couple lived in a house on stilts.
One day Chuck looked over a fence and saw a piece of cement. After some exploration he realized the cement was actually a bomb shelter extending under the house, which he cleaned out just in case it was needed.
October 1962 was one of those milestones. Chuck suddenly received orders directing him to report to Florida immediately. The military was placed on a DEFCON 2 alert (defense readiness condition). It was the Cuban missile crises, which brought the United States and the Soviet Union to the brink of nuclear war over missile bases constructed by the Soviets in Cuba.
At the time, Chuck wasn’t sure how it would all turn out. As he was leaving for Florida he told Marge if anything happened to get into the bomb shelter.
The crises was resolved when the Soviets agreed to dismantle the missile system.
When he returned to Hawaii he found Marge had strategically placed a hammer inside the narrow passage leading into the bomb shelter, and she let Chuck know she wasn’t afraid to use it if the wrong person came down the passage.
The next stage
After a distinguished career, Chuck retired from the military as a lieutenant colonel in 1977. He had served for 22 years.
He and Marge had moved 17 times and their son, John, was in grade school. The couple decided to put down roots in Maple Valley.
“We just liked it so much out here,” Chuck said. “We had never had an opportunity to be involved in a community.”
The couple built a home and for the first time the family was an integral part of a community. Chuck became co-owner of a real estate business and a computer company, but his sense of public service was still in place.
In 1987 he decided to run for the state Senate.
“I was a complete innocent,” Chuck said. “I had no idea what I was getting into.”
He ended up losing to Kent Pullen, who he described as a “great guy.”
However, losing the political race didn’t mean he was out of politics. Next came the time for service of a different type. He was hired as the state Senate Democratic caucus chief of staff in Olympia from 1988 to 1991, which he said was quite an experience.
To illustrate the experience, Chuck said he started smoking cigarettes when he was in the Air Force, but made a promise to quit if he made it through 100 combat missions in Vietnam.
“I was a stress smoker,” Chuck said. “So after 100 missions, just to make sure I could quit I flew four more missions (without smoking). And you know I didn’t smoke again until I went to Olympia.”
Despite some periods of smoking cigarettes, the drive and commitment that has marked Chuck’s life over the past seven decades is evident in his dedication to his health and well being through running.
Up until a few years ago, Chuck ran 10 miles every day. He cut down to 5 miles because Marge asked him to scale it back. He began running because of back problems that flared up in the service, and he believes running is “why I’m alive today.”
Chuck said he started running in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s when it wasn’t common to see someone running like it is today.
“People would stop and ask me if I wanted a ride and the police wanted to know what was going on,” he said.
An extremely good life
After leaving Olympia the public commitment continued. He served seven years on the Greater Maple Valley Unincorporated Area Council and two years on the Maple Valley City Council.
Chuck served four years as commander of the Association of Washington Generals and continues to be an active member of the organization and the Maple Valley-Black Diamond Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5052.
The sense of service is also carried on by the couple’s son, who was one of the Tahoma High class valedictorians and the 1986 senior class president. When John graduated he spoke as class president and Chuck spoke at the ceremony as the school board president, one of the many memories the couple still cherish.
John went on to graduate from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. and medical school. He is an ophthalmologist and currently serves as a commander and director of surgical services at Bremerton Naval Hospital.
Chuck has been recognized through proclamations from Gov. Chris Gregoire, declaring Dec. 19, 2005 as “Commander General Chuck Hardaway Day” and the city of Maple Valley declared Dec. 20, 2005 as “Chuck Hardaway Day.”
From Michigan to Maple Valley and all points between, Chuck and Marge have defined the meaning of marriage and commitment to country, community, family and most importantly, to each other.
Theirs is a life well lived.
“What you look back on, are the places you’ve been and people you have been with,” Chuck said. “Marge and I have had an extremely good life.”
