Richard Clayton Tardiff, formerly of New Hartford and Whitesboro, NY, passed into Eternal Life on April 3, 2023 at the age of 95. Affectionately known as "Pop", he was born in 1927, on a family farm in Clinton, ME, the youngest of eight children. His parents were Euphemie (Ouelette) and Amable Tardiff.

Pop began his formal education in a one room country school house. He was a born inventor. As a youth, he built a go-cart by rigging a washing machine motor to a bicycle and also took an early selfie by rigging a string to a camera and operating it with his big toe. After graduating as Salutatorian of his high school 1945, he enlisted in the Navy. He went to college on the GI Bill, and in 1950, graduated from the University of Maine as an engineer. Eventually he obtained his Masters from Syracuse University. He spent the majority of his career working for General Electric on top secret space projects during the Cold War. Two of his projects were the Atlas and the Corona (which is now an exhibit in the Smithsonian). In his personal time, he greatly enjoyed farming his suburban backyard as well as acres of land outside of town. He often invented things that he needed – such as a baby carrier, twenty years before they became available on the mass market. With his background in farming and engineering, he could grow anything, build anything, and fix anything.

In 1951, he married Teresa King at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Fairfield, ME. Their happy, fruitful marriage lasted until her death in 1991. Together they loved and sacrificed for eight children, living simply to provide for their education. Pop and their children took care of Teresa through her long illness. After her death, he married a widow, Louise Albergine, and had a happy marriage with her until her death in 2000. Pop is survived by his devoted children: Jonathan (Evangeline) of Portland, OR, Benjamin (Mary Jean) of Post Falls, ID, Gregory of Sylvan Beach, NY, Daniel (Maryann) of Willard, KS, Jane Zingelman of Whitehall, PA, Mary Ellen (Bill) Doherty of Merrimack, NH, Andrew (Abby) of Coventry, RI and Susan (Greg) Lloyd of Whitehall, PA as well as thirty-five grandchildren, and forty-four great grandchildren so far.

Pop was a lifelong Catholic, who with Teresa prayed and endured much to pass along the Faith. One of their joint projects was St. Michael's Catechetical Center, in which they and some close friends taught the Baltimore Catechism every Sunday. It lasted for twelve years.

Pop lived a full life in mind, body, and spirit. He took flying lessons as a college student and became a private pilot. He studied the history of the French-Canadian people and extensively researched his family genealogy. He enjoyed making translations from French and Latin. He always had a song in his heart. He sang in Latin Mass choirs and played guitar to entertain residents in nursing homes. His voice was light and pleasing even to the end of his life. His children remember him playing piano every evening before supper in their childhood. He knew countless religious hymns and folk songs. He delighted his grandchildren especially with "The Big Rock Candy Mountain." He also wrote poetry, stories, and sent his children funny letters. Later in life when he started to get dementia, he joked that his memoirs would be called, "All the Things that I Forgot." And the first hundred pages would be blank. He was always ready to ham it up for an audience when singing or telling a story but otherwise was a quiet unassuming man who never drew attention to himself.  Pop spent his final days being cared for by his loving children and grandchildren in Whitehall, PA.

A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children. Proverbs 13:22

Services: A Wake will take place Thursday, April 13 from 4-6 pm at Keller Funeral Home, 1018 Church St., Fogelsville. Sung Latin Requiem Mass is Saturday, April 15 at 9 am at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, 5652 E Main St, Verona, NY. Burial to follow at Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Whitesboro, NY.  Online condolences may be offered to the family at www.KellerFuneralHomes.com .

In lieu of flowers, consider sending a donation to St. Jude Children's Hospital, Doctors without Borders, or the National Coalition of Clergy and Laity, in care of the Funeral Home, PO Box 52, Fogelsville, PA 18051.