Delayed service to honor Jerry Tardy

Former IU Alumni Association president and beloved friend of the University Jerry Tardy will be memorialized in a service today at the Musical Arts Center. After the service, a reception will be held in the Virgil T. DeVault Alumni Center -- a building that stands as one of his many legacies.\n"He probably wanted the reception here," said Rebecca Keith, Tardy's former secretary.\nTardy, 62, died Sept. 7 after a lengthy bout with cancer.\nStudents and faculty are urged to attend the service, which begins at 3 p.m.\n"Anyone is welcome," said Karl Zacker, assistant director of the Alumni Association.\nThe service will be officiated by Kent Millard, senior minister of St. Luke's United Methodist Church.\nLadies First and Straight No Chaser, two IU a cappella groups, will perform during the service. Both are sponsored by the Alumni Association.\nSeveral speakers, including IU President Myles Brand and former president of the board of trustees John Walda, plan to attend.\nTardy's secretary of three years believes everything is in order for today's service, despite its delay because of the terrorist attacks.\n"We moved forward after an appropriate period and out of respect for that tragedy," Keith said.\nThe service was originally planned for Sept. 12.\nTardy, who became alumni president in 1987, made many friends at the University and across the nation.\n"He has so many colleagues and so many people in the University and all over the country who are close to him through his position here," Keith said. "There would be no way we could fit everybody in (the Alumni Center)."\nBorn in Indiana and raised in Bloomington, Tardy was a graduate of IU. His "deep pride in Indiana University" and the close relationship with colleagues was evident, Keith said. \n"I really appreciated the confidence he had in me," he said. "I enjoyed the respect he had for me and I for him."\nJohn Hobson, senior vice president of the Alumni Association, was a close friend and colleague of the former president.\n"Our relationship goes back to the 1970s, although I didn't work with him closely until 1987," Hobson said. "I had a good professional relationship with Jerry."\nHobson and Tardy shared the same goals for the Association and the University. Many of those goals were realized.\n"He had a great vision for the Alumni Association," Hobson said. "He wasn't thinking about what we should be doing next week, or next month. He was thinking more long term."\nThose dreams included funding and building the Virgil T. DeVault Alumni Center, helping build Bill Armstrong Stadium and acquiring 100,000 Alumni Association members by the year 2000.\nHobson said Tardy's legacy can not be defined by any single event.\n"He was a dreamer but he also had an action plan to make the dream come true," Hobson said.