Mary Klein Hardman, 59, a resident of Potomac since 1978, died April 28 at Suburban Hospital of complications from chronic respiratory and heart disease.
Hardman grew up an only child in Bronx, N.Y., and earned Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees in Slavic Languages and Literatures from Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pa., in the early 1960s.
In 1966, she moved to Washington, D.C. to train with the United States Information Agency as a Russian-speaking guide for a trade and cultural mission to the Soviet Union on industrial design. She represented the United States government on two such missions, a six-month tour of the major Soviet cities in 1967 and a shorter mission in 1974. At that time the Cold War was still very much in evidence and missions to the Soviet Union were hardship assignments which carried the risk of detention by Soviet authorities.
Between her missions to the Soviet Union, Hardman was employed as an indexer by the National Library of Medicine and was a supervising information specialist for the National Institutes of Mental Health and later the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
She married Kenneth E. Hardman in 1975 and shortly afterward joined the consulting firm of Capital Systems Group. After two years, she retired from her profession to start her family.
Hardman was active in the Parent Teachers Association for Wayside Elementary, Herbert Hoover Middle School and Winston Churchill High School, holding numerous positions as her children progressed through the Montgomery County public school system. She also was active in Montgomery Soccer, Inc., where she served as age group coordinator for several different age groups and was a member of the Board of Directors. However, she was forced to restrict and eventually terminate her community service activities in recent years when her health began to decline.
Hardman is survived by her husband Kenneth E. Hardman, daughter Janet Alyssa Hardman, of Atlanta, Ga., and son Michael Edward Hardman, also of Potomac.
Contributions may be sent to:
* Children's Hospital Foundation
111 Michigan Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20010
* American Lung Association
Attn: L. Gardner
1740 Broadway
New York, N.Y. 10019-4374