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Lawyer's return seemed destiny

Kara Hardin thought she would settle far away. The lure of family, small town quaintness and opportunity changed her mind.

By MOLLY MOORHEAD
Published February 27, 2005

ZEPHYRHILLS - Kara Hardin didn't think she would come back home.

After graduating from Spelman College in Atlanta, then law school at Stetson University, Hardin envisioned a career in the corporate world. She and her husband would move to a big city and start a life together.

But something pulled her back to Zephyrhills.

About two years ago, she stopped by the downtown law office of Steve Herman to have something notarized and learned he was selling his practice. Soon, she owned it.

"Everything came together," Hardin says. "It was almost like it was meant to be."

Now Hardin, 29, is part of the small community of lawyers in town, busy every day with hearings and transactions. Working on her own, she handles bankruptcies, contracts, family law and general civil litigation. She also fills in occasionally as the city attorney.

Drew Ben Hudgins, a personal injury attorney in Zephyrhills for 20 years, said he respects Hardin and regularly refers clients to her.

"I think the remarkable thing about her is she came back, and she's contributing to her community and doing an excellent job," he said.

Hardin grew up the youngest child of Henry and Margaret Mathis. Her great-grandfather was one of the first black residents of Zephyrhills.

The family lived on the east edge of town, off Sixth Avenue when it was still a dirt road. Their house, where her parents still live, is on Mathis Street. Hardin's grandfather lived next door and founded the Miracle Temple Church of God. Her uncle and grandmother also were close.

As a child, Hardin didn't recognize the uniqueness of having extended family around.

"I never really thought about it," she says. "It was just normal for me."

But now she sees the significance.

"I have all these people there, not only my parents. You just have this community of family around to help raise you and influence how you think about the world."

Hardin lives in Wesley Chapel now with her husband, Ronald, a special education teacher at Zephyrhills High School, and their three young daughters.

She sees the demographics of the area changing - more families, more new residents, more diversity.

"I think it's getting to be a better place, and that's (true of) society in general."

In fact, Hardin says, her experience growing up in the small, black minority of Zephyrhills was positive.

"You're still going to have people with their prejudices, and that's never going to change," she says. "However, I never thought it was bad when I grew up."

That's why last year's controversy over the attempted renaming of Sixth Avenue after Martin Luther King Jr. bothered her. Hardin thought it cast the city in a negative - and inaccurate - light.

"I just didn't really see the big uproar," she says. "And I think it made Zephyrhills look bad."

For that, she blames the media for "stirring things up."

"Zephyrhills is no backwoods Mississippi, and I think that's the way it came off and that's sad," she says. "Maybe we can get beyond that."

The Capt. Harold B. Jeffries House, which houses Hardin's law practice, dates to 1911 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. There is little around downtown that looks different from when Hardin was growing up. It's still quiet and quaint.

But the edges of town - where major retail stores and national restaurants are rapidly taking over the landscape - are hardly recognizable.

"The funniest thing is seeing all these restaurants here," she says. "To me, it's a big sign of change. Obviously you have these corporations that are interested in our town."

Molly Moorhead can be reached at 352 521-6521 or toll-free 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6521. Her e-mail address is moorhead@sptimes.com

[Last modified February 27, 2005, 00:13:19]