John "Jack" Hardy, known to gardening aficionados as "Gardener Jack", passed away on December 27 at 5:18am at the Princess Margaret Hospital after he lost his fight with cancer.

Jack had been a Tribune columnist for 31 years delighting readers with his words of wisdom on what to do in the Bahamian garden. He wrote the Green Scene for a number of decades before his column moved into the paper's Friday Weekend section.

Jack was born in Durham, England, on March 1, 1942, and moved to The Bahamas in 1966 as a contract teacher for the Ministry of Education and serving ln the islands of Abaco, Ragged Island, Long Island and North Andros.

He was forced to relocate to New Providence from Central Pines, Abaco after Hurricane Dorian in September. He never fully regained his equilibrium after experiencing and witnessing the vicious devastating destruction wreaked by the vengeful Dorian.

Losing his home and almost his life he rapidly went into a decline. On December 16 he was admitted to Princess Maragret Hospital where he passed away just 11 days later.

What started off as a hobby quickly grew into an obsession which he shared with his wife, the former Valerie Pinder, of Sandy Point, Abaco. He even grew tomatoes on Ragged Island using goat droppings for soil. He started writing his weekly column, 'The Green Scene', for The Tribune in 1988.

Jack had seven children who together brought him 22 grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

His funeral will be held on January 11 at 11am at St Martin's Anglican Church, Sandy Point, Abaco.