Albert Sidney Hartman Jr. passed awaypeacefully in his sleep at Parkway Village on Wednesday morning,Aug. 3, 2011.

    Albert, better known as “Bud,” was born in Brookhaven, Mississippiin 1920 to Albert Sidney and Estelle Hartman. He had an idyllicchildhood spoiled by his two sisters, Evelyn and Flo; his mother;and his aunt, Annie Granberry. He excelled in football in highschool, and in 1942, joined the Army Air Corps. He flew the P51fighter on 82 World War II combat missions, earning him theDistinguished Flying Cross.

    In 1944, he married his hometown sweetheart, Norma LouiseHedgepeth, and they had three children. He continued his service inthe Air Force. It took him and his family all over the world. Thisafforded him one of his greatest joys, talking to people andlearning all about them, be they American, or of a differentculture and finding all the common or not so common threads in allof them.

    He never met a stranger. He made everyone feel special just bybeing sincerely interested in them. He was a devout Christian andwas active in all the churches he attended all over the world.

    He was preceded in death by Norma, his wife of 64 years.

    Survivors are his son, Sid Hartman, of Orlando, Fla., and his wife,Janet, and their twins, Philip and Lauren; his daughter, MelissaBearden, of Little Rock, Ark., her daughter, Ashley Bearden, of NewYork City, her son, Brian Bearden and his wife, Sabra, and theirdaughter, Maddie, of North Little Rock; and his daughter, HeatherRussell, of Dallas, Texas, and her husband, Allen, and theirdaughter, Kelly Schwartz, of Washington, D.C., and her husband, Royand their two sons, Hudson and Landon.

    His internment will be held in Brookhaven with extended family at alater date.