Jim Hardcastle, Calvin’s Little Brother
I got an email from Jim Hardcastle, Calvin’s little brother the other day and I thought I’d share it with you all.
Hi again,
I have been reading this for awhile now and I am positive that it is my big brother that affected you so much. First, you probably didn’t know Cal had a little brother, but he does. I was adopted by our dad about 15 years ago. I enjoy reading these stories about him. It makes me feel good to know that after all these years he is still in your memories. I would love to hear more if you could spare the time.
P.S. The purple and gold was for the Minnesota Vikings. He was a huge fan.
P.P.S. Calvin was moved shortly after his funeral to the cemetery on 7800 South and 1300 West
Jim,
It’s so nice to hear from you. I didn’t know Calvin had a younger brother. I only knew about his sister because he lived with her. He was pretty tight lipped about his family. In fact, it was rare that he ever talked. I think I was only blessed with what I heard because I was the only one awake at all those parties.
I wish I had more than what I put on my weblog, but every one of my memories went down there. Since I’ve written about him, I feel so much better. It’s like he was able to leave me at peace when I finally told my piece of his life to the world. I wish he had lived longer. He was a funny guy.
Good Luck, Laura Moncur
P.S. Is it okay if I post your email on my weblog so that the rest of the world can hear the rest of the story? Is there anything you’d like to add?
Yes that would be just fine if you posted what I had to say and thank you for reminding me about just how great my big brother was and still is.
Receiving this email made me feel even better about posting my experiences with Calvin here. I am so glad I was able to make a human connection with my memories. Thanks for emailing me, Jim. Sorry you lost your brother when you were so young. We all lost a great friend when Calvin left us.
If you didn’t read the entries I wrote about my old friend, Calvin Hardcastle, you can see them here:
wow, of course I had to go back and read all the entries. Thanks. That was very moving.
Comment by Braidwood — 2/13/2006 @ 2:31 am
Wow, I don’t know what to say. I’m sitting here with my daughter as were reading about Calvin. I’m reliving so many of these memories with you and can relate to so many of the things you said about Calvin. I believe Calvin touched all of us who knew him. He was there for me so many times too and said things to me that I will never forget. I stayed friends with him long after his friend and I broke up. In fact, Calvin and I became better friends. The last time I spoke to him was about 2 weeks before he died. It was a great conversation. He told me about the girl he was in love with and what he wanted to do with his future. As always, I hung up the phone smiling after talking to him. To this day, Calvin is one of the people I miss most from the past. I always imagine how much brighter life’s experiences would be if Calvin were here to enjoy them with. I often wonder if Calvin were taken so soon because he was so special. What a great disguise – who would have ever thought a skateboarding stoner could have touched so many of us.
Thank you so much for sharing your memories. You really made me smile, but more importantly, you made me realize that the highschool years I have tried so had to forget, did have some good times too. By the way, Todd always thought you blamed him for turning the beetle upside down.
Thanks again – you will never know how much you touched me with your writing. Lisa
Comment by Lisa Funderburk — 12/14/2007 @ 12:15 am
Lisa,
Tell Todd that I don’t hold any grudges against anybody from those days. I just think of all those guys with joy and happiness, even the time that Todd kept smacking me over the head with the roll of paper towels. I was so drunk that night I couldn’t stand up under the weight of those paper towels.
I’ve never been that drunk since. He taught me a good lesson that night.
Sending my best, Laura
Comment by Laura Moncur — 12/14/2007 @ 1:43 am
do u know how to get ahold of jim? if so please let me know,,andybry@live.com
Comment by andy strong — 6/10/2008 @ 11:38 am
Calvin is my uncle, he died when I was 13, its great to read about him. As for Jim, noone knows what happened to him, But for those of you that don’t know he is the youngest of six, My grandparents divorce and my grandpa remarried and adopted Jimmy. He has 17 (or so) nieces and nephews.
Comment by shannon — 11/24/2008 @ 7:36 pm
hay whats up this is justin. calvin is my uncle and shannon is my sister everything she wrote is tru cuz jimmy is adopted he has no blood to are family and calvin is not his big brother i just wanted to make that clear to everyone that reads this and nobody knows what happen to my uncle that night ok so jimmy needs to shut his fuccing mouth you aint family you aint nothin but a fake
Comment by Justin — 12/21/2008 @ 11:31 pm
Justin or Shannon,,jim is a peice of shit and a liar,,i am his ex girlfriend and the mother of his fisrt born son,that is almost 10 years old,,and jim has nothing to do with him,,unless stealing my son’s social security number,means he has something to do with him,,i would like it if you guys got back to me andybry@live.com
Comment by andy strong — 2/25/2009 @ 3:45 pm
First let me say that I am Calvin’s Sister. I was reading what you had to say about my brother. I remember the scone dog story. His best friends wore purple, gold and white. I am still amazed they found such outfits.
There is never a day goes by I don’t think of something funny that my brother said or did. I wished he were still alive maybe my son would be an excellent baseball player.
I have just lost my good friend to cancer and how bad I wished he was here for me because he would have been.
My brother would have dropped anything to help a friend or his family. There are so many stories that could be told. I have some pictures of him but I don’t have a scanner.
He once said to me that I will never forget. I was going through my divorce and I said why can’t he leave me alone. He said its because your beautiful. I looked at him kinda weird and he said I know I am drunk but your beautiful, pretty women are everywhere but you are beautiful. I will never forget these words.
Please remember the most profound words he said and don’t forget them. I thank you for writing about my brother he meant the world to us.
The day he died I looked out the hospital window and I saw five shining stars floating to heaven and knew it was his spirt saying goodbye.
I love you little brother Roxann Rose
Comment by Roxann Hardcastle Rose — 8/1/2009 @ 4:54 pm
also I am curious Laura, are you the one that called me shortly after his death and wanted to tell me stories about my brother. Let me know. I got a call and then the person never called me back?
Comment by Roxann Hardcastle Rose — 8/1/2009 @ 5:20 pm
Roxann,
No, I’m not the one who called. I went to the funeral and I didn’t talk to anyone and then went back to my normal life. Calvin was a great guy and I should have spent a little more time with him, I think.
Laura
Comment by Laura Moncur — 8/2/2009 @ 9:50 pm
I wish I new Calvin better, the day he died was the day our family fell to pieces. I saw the true side to my family not just my parents but relatives. Unfortunately, the world seem to crumble at our feet not just the adults or the teens but the children’s too. He held us together, sadly when he departed our lives instead of bringing us even closer to make us stronger we broke. How I wish I could have known Calvin better, that is what hurt the most when he passed knowing that such a respectful man and a well known man was my uncle I will never get to hear no more from him and Christmas will never be the same so I must do what i can do to pass on the same tradition we all must OUR FAMILY. Even distant relatives. That is if you want to keep his memory and his spark alive. Your cousin, your niece, Sarah. P.S. Justin, Jimmy was adopted by Grandpa he may not be blood but he doesn’t have to be blood to be a son. It takes a man to be a father.
Comment by Sarah Kilpatrick (Hardcastle) — 10/9/2009 @ 1:02 pm
Hi my name is LeeAnn.
I came across this by accident. Its so great to see a wonderful story about Calvin.
Calvin was my brother in law. He was truly and awesome person. No words can explain how much his loss affected all of us. His memory is etched in my thoughts. My twin we call him Kameron, reminds me of Calvin and he looks a lot like him. We named him after Calvin. Calvin Kameron Hardcastle. He was staying with us when the twins were born. That morning was crazy and I will never forget how Ernesto his brother and him panicked. When my water broke in the middle of the night. They both walked out to the car in thier underwear. I was pretty calm but nervous. Asked them if they were going to go dressed like that, it was funny. I had heard of things like that happening. We had this little toyota celica. He was pretty tall too, sitting in the back seat with our daughter Sarah with his big eyes. We were living in West Jordan at the time and the hospital I was to deliver in was the LDS Hospital. Quit a distance and Ernesto was running lights. Fortunately, there wasn’t much traffic that early in the morning. It was great we really needed him to be there. He was so awesome with all his neices and nephews kids in general.
He, also, lived with us for a while in St George. I remember scurvy ball that he created. LOL! He was a lot of fun and a heart bigger then anyone I ever knew!
Thanks for the story. This will be passed on to my children. They all so loved this man.
Comment by LeeAnn Hardcastle Jones — 10/9/2009 @ 1:08 pm
I was so happy when I found these stories about Calvin. He was very good friends with my uncle Kelly Mounteer, he was considered part of our family! He lived with us many times, and was always around, he and my uncle were always more like brothers to me. It is so amazing to see how many lives Calvin has touched, I know that our family still talks about him all the time. My uncle Kelly actually named his only son Calvin, and he is now 7 years old and if there is anyone that has ever reminded me of Calvin it is our little Calvin. Reading these memories of Calvin have been such a gift to me! My favorite memories of Calvin, were mostly on Christmas morning, if he wasn’t already there from the night before, I always remember the door slamming open and him running in with the biggest smile on his face and yelling something crazy to make everyone laugh. The year he died I was still little, it was not too long before Christmas, and I had just lost my Great Grandma, so my mom chose to wait until after Christmas to tell me. But I knew Christmas day when Calvin didn’t come in there was something different. And every year since then I still miss his smiling face and loud laugh, and his teasing me like crazy. I know I’m not technically family, but to me he will always be my Uncle Calvin, and thank you to everyone who has added their own stories to this, it is so good to hear about someone that is so loved in my family!!!
Comment by Nicci — 12/29/2011 @ 12:55 pm
Nicci,
I LOVED your stories about Calvin. Thanks so much for sharing. You brought tears to my eyes when you told me about him not showing up to Christmas.
He really touched so many of our lives.
Wishing you the best, Laura
Comment by Laura Moncur — 2/2/2012 @ 9:22 am