Walter Hardy Bozant

Walter Hardy Bozant entered this world on the eve of The Great Depression on March 17, 1929 and passed on to Heaven on December 2, 2025. He became the “man of the house” as a young boy raised by his mother, grandmother, two aunts and an older sister who have all gone before him to eternity. He grew up in a Baton Rouge home that would later be claimed by Interstate 10 but he spent his summers in Bayou Chicot learning how to be a man from uncles and cousins. To us, he was “Na” thanks to Matthew, his first grandson.

The real adventure began in his teenage years. Hardy answered the call for young men to fill the void left at home during WWII. At the age of 15, he hitchhiked out west to fight forest fires in Idaho. He did that for two summers until it was time to come home and be a senior in high school.

After graduating from Baton Rouge High School, Hardy attended Louisiana State University and earned a Bachelor of Science in 1950. He dreamed of becoming a veterinarian at a time before LSU had a veterinarian school. In fact, there were only 10 veterinarian schools in the United States in 1950. After being accepted to veterinary school in Texas, he received his conscription draft notice on Christmas Eve 1951. He reported for duty in January 1952 and served in the 259th U.S. Army Military Police Corps unit until that fortunate day when he was called upon to handle a rabid dog on the base. A visiting general recruited him that day to join the Army Veterinary Corps where he would serve the rest of his tour of duty during the Korean War. He received an honorable discharge in 1956.

After returning home from the army, his place in veterinary school was no longer available. He continued his studies at LSU and would graduate with a Master of Science in 1958 and a Masters Degree Plus 30 in 1960. While at LSU he was a proud member of the LSU Tiger Marching Band. During his college years he was a lightweight boxer for LSU and was the intramural ping pong champion.

In 1960, while leading the music at Hebron Baptist Church, Hardy met and married Mary Elizabeth “Liz” Bezar. Hardy spent many Sunday afternoons with the Bezar family and after helping Liz’s Dad carve a side of pork, Hardy earned his blessing to take Liz for a coke. The rest is history. They were married March 25, 1960.

That same year Hardy began his teaching career at the newly opened Broadmoor High School in Baton Rouge. He began teaching advanced math and science classes, served as a guidance counselor and assistant principal and finally retired from Broadmoor as its principal in 1994. During his tenure he coached the golf team and was instrumental in establishing the Broadmoor Arts and Crafts Festival still held every November.

Hardy worked hard to support his young family. He was the music director at church, a teacher at Broadmoor High School and he built houses for people each summer. He built the house on Jones Creek Rd. (with Mom’s help) where they raised their 4 children - Kent, Wade, Sherri and Staci. Hardy rose before sunrise each morning and when he got home from his day job, he put on his work clothes and headed outside until dark. You see, there was always something to fix, plant, build or finish. And Hardy Bozant did it all! He was a self-taught jack of all trades.

He was a mechanic, electrician, plumber and builder. All 4 kids had stories of learning to work on stuff alongside their Dad…in the barn, the workshop, the pasture, or the welding shop. There were even trips to the junk yard for spare car parts. If Hardy needed something, he usually built it. If it was broken, he fixed it. If he didn’t know how, he went to the library and figured it out. He built his own firewood splitter, fiberglass boat, shrimp boat, concrete cutter, deer feeder, hoist, and winch. Many who passed their home on Jones Creek Rd. will remember the huge cross on the roof each year at Christmas and Easter. In Hardy’s ingenuity, he built a crane with a series of ropes across the roof so that he could hoist it up each year with or without help. He had the only inboard boat motor that actually had a clutch! Many Saturday afternoons were spent on the river with Liz’s fried chicken while Hardy tinkered on the motor.

He was a computer pioneer. In the 1980’s before there was Windows or the internet, Hardy learned DOS computer language and wrote a program that would capture school attendance.

He was a musician. He got his piano when he was 5 years old and sang in church his entire life. He learned to be a conductor under the leadership of L. Bruce Jones at LSU and the First Baptist Church. He returned to Tiger Stadium with his daughters and granddaughter for the LSU alumni band until his 90th birthday. Hardy served faithfully as the minister of music at Hebron Baptist Church, Jefferson Baptist Church, Stevendale Baptist Church and numerous interim positions over a span of 50 years. Liz and all four kids and a couple future son-in-laws were in his choir at Stevendale.

He was an outdoorsman. Hardy loved to hunt and fish and knew all there was to know about livestock and wild game. He taught himself to trawl for shrimp and built a boat large enough for shrimping. As a young man he traveled to Venezuela to help a cattle rancher build a healthy herd. He always maintained a garden and when they moved to Jones Creek Rd., he raised beagles, horses, goats and chickens over the years.

The legacy he leaves behind is one of servanthood. He lived and taught that when there is a need, you show up. Whether it’s storm cleanup, tree cutting, barn raising, corn shucking, pea shelling, septic tank cleaning, house building, weddings, birthdays, laying sod, repairing fence, harvesting corn or beside vigils – we show up and serve. The Bozants are now Bozants, Bunches, O’Neals, Pritchards and Steins. But, the patriarch of our family set a legacy of service that does not count the cost or keep score. When life gets hard family shows up and gets the job done.

As kids, we thought he was kind of famous. On many occasions we would ask, “Daddy, tell us a story.” He always had a story dealing with teenagers from the day at Broadmoor or stories from his time in the army or fighting fires in Idaho. He loved to tease and sometimes the stories he told seemed bigger than life and were thought to be “Hardy-bull.” After all, who hitchhikes to Idaho when they’re 15? He was a humble man so his stories were never braggadocios. So, when he told us a new story where he had some big adventure, it seemed like Hardy-bull. But one day his friend from Idaho showed up with pictures!

To the grandkids and great grandkids, he is Na. They have countless memories of riding on the yellow lawnmower or 4-wheeler. He put a zipline in the pasture and hung stuffed animals in the woods. The great grandkids discovered the love of Hershey’s kisses and juicy fruit gum. They always knew to head to Na for his secret stash in the red tin by the side of his chair. Afterall, Na had no rules about when you could eat chocolate and most likely thought of it as a food group.

Hardy was God’s object lesson. When his children picture a heavenly father, it’s not hard. He wasn’t perfect but he pointed his family to Jesus. Despite the collection of college degrees accumulated by children and grandchildren, he would tell you he was most proud that all of his children and grandchildren knew the Lord.

Hardy was born on St. Patrick’s Day. The Irish associated the clover with St. Patrick’s Day and considered the rare four-leaf clover a sign of luck. We think our Na was a very special and rare kind of father, grandfather, great-grandfather and mentor to many. Since we don’t really believe in luck, we’ll just call ourselves blessed.

We will miss him beyond measure and hold tight to our treasured memories. We look forward to the best reunion one day in Heaven. He has joined his Mother Blanche Causey and son, Wade Bozant in Heaven. He leaves behind his wife of sixty-five years, Liz Bozant; son Kent Bozant (Amy); daughter Sherri Bunch (George) and Staci O’Neal (Greg). Hardy and Liz are blessed to have many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Matthew Bunch (Summer), Luke Bunch (Katy), Hannah Bunch Stein (Adrian), Joshua O’Neal, Meghan O’Neal Pritchard (Dylan), Anthony Guerin (Melissa), Edgar Guerin Bozant (Aria).