Harold "Hal" D. Nordin

Harold Nordin

CHARLESTON – Harold “Hal” D. Nordin, 87, of Charleston, passed away Tuesday, February 14, 2023 at his home, surrounded by family.

His funeral will be held at 1:00 p.m. Saturday, February 18, 2023 at the Harper-Swickard Funeral Home with Reverend Ken Hoover officiating.  Private burial will follow in Mound Cemetery, Charleston.  Visitation will begin at 11:00 a.m. Saturday at the funeral home.  Memorials in his honor may be directed to: the Harold Nordin Economics Scholarship.

Harold Nordin was born on January 9, 1936 in Chicago, Illinois to Wendela and Gust Nordin who had immigrated separately to the United States in the early 1920's and had met in Chicago.  Harold had an older sister, Hillevy Nordin who preceded him in death.  He is survived by his wife Barbara Nordin; his son Brian Nordin and his wife Doris Nordin; his daughter Kathryn Nordin-Wolff and two grandsons, Josh Wolff; and Ethan Wolff and his wife Hannah Wolff.  Harold grew up in Chicago graduating from Steinmetz high school.  He spent 5 years working as a builder of houses around Chicago in his father's construction company.  After taking a blue-printing class and doing very well at a Junior College, he decided to attend Northern Illinois University graduating with both a Bachelors and Masters degree in Economics.  During this time, he met Barbara Mundy and they were married on July 15, 1962.  Brian was born on May 20, 1963.  Harold taught one year of high school at Homewood-Flossmor and then taught two years at Carthage Junior College.  Kathi was born on October 31, 1965.   Harold was hired to teach Economics at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois in 1967 and continued teaching there for 35 years.  He received his PhD in Economics from the University of Illinois in 1976.

Harold loved teaching and recruited Economics majors whenever he could.  He was responsible for creating an Economics trip to the major financial institutions of Chicago to give his students a first-hand experience of the jobs that Economic majors might aspire to.  Over the years, hundreds of students took part with several being hired there after graduation

During the Summer, Harold used his building and carpentry skills for extra income and to expand his own house.  One of the first jobs for others that he had was to build much of the inside of Ted's Warehouse, a popular music venue of the 1970's - 1990's in Charleston.  Ted and Harold became good friends and many residents and students could find him there late at night sipping beers, telling jokes and stories.

Harold was community oriented.  He belonged to Rotary for many years, serving a term as President.  He also was a member of the Coles County Democrats, the Elks, the Moose and Ambucs.  He was honored with the Jefferson award for community leadership. 

Harold loved to play golf, pinochle and softball in his younger years.  He was also a traveler having visited Sweden, Russia, Canada, Mexico and Saudi Arabia.

Harold was happily married to Barbara for over 60 years.  He was a much beloved spouse, father and human being.  He will be much missed by all those who met him.

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