Buzz Summer Camp Directory
BELLAIRE • MEMORIAL • RIVER OAKS • TANGLEWOOD • WEST UNIVERSITY

More Mothers, More Love

Pieced back together through prayer

Jennifer Oakley
Click the Buzz Me button to receive email notifications when this writer publishes a new article or a new article in this column is published.
Claudine Hartland, Nina Hendee, Joan Hartland, Darla Stone, Norma Jean Moore

MOTHERLY LOVE Claudine Hartland (center) is surrounded by the love of the four moms in her life: (from left) Nina Hendee, Joan Hartland, Darla Stone and Norma Jean Moore. (Photo: lawellphoto.com) 

“Dear Lord, I am so broken. I am a broken vase. Please put me back together.”

Claudine gave it up to God.

One moment she was a wife and mother of three young children enjoying a ski vacation with her husband. The next moment, she was only a mother. Edd K. Hendee died in 2010, the day before Valentine’s, in a skiing accident on a mountaintop in Vermont.

One moment Claudine was cooking chicken marsala, waiting for Edd K. to return from a day on the slopes. The next moment, in shock and grief, she was on a plane, kids in tow, arriving back in Houston, her parents and in-laws encircling her in their arms. At just 33 years old Claudine Hendee became a widow, and her children, Campbell, then 4, Hudson, 3, and Reagan, just 8 months, fatherless.

“I am a shattered vase, God. I am in bits and pieces.”

Mothers take on an extra special significance in Claudine’s family. Seven years since the accident, Claudine is now remarried, to David Hartland, whose first wife Kristen died from breast cancer in early June 2005. David and Kristen’s son, Sam, was 18 months old at the time.

Today, Sam is 13, Campbell, 11, Hudson, 10, and Reagan is 7. Married exactly five years this month, Claudine and David have a son together, Conrad, the bookend who further ties them all together. The family’s moniker, H7, which represents their unity, is emblazoned on stationary and David and Claudine’s license plates. Claudine wears a delicate H7 charm on a golden necklace.

Hudson Hendee, Sam Hartland, David Hartland, Conrad Hartland, Claudine Hartland, Reagan Hendee, Campbell Hendee

LOVE ABOUNDS Claudine and David Hartland use “H7” as a family moniker. From left: Hudson, Sam, David, Conrad (on lap), Claudine, Reagan and Campbell. (Photo: Brooke Schwab Photography)

They are fueled by love from their constellation of a family: four moms, four dads, 17 sisters and sisters-in-law, 12 brothers-in-law and 18 nieces and nephews – along with the star-bright memories of both Edd K. and Kristen.

And, seven years after the death that rocked her to her core, Claudine is bolstered by the support of four women: her own mother Norma Jean Moore, her mother-in-law Joan Hartland, her first mother-in-law Nina Hendee, and David’s first mother-in-law Darla Stone. The quartet of moms are so seamlessly woven together, so fiercely bound by love and loss, that there is no way to tell who belongs to whom. They all simply belong to each other.

“Of course it’s easy to love your own mother, and my own mother is exceptionally easy to love,” says David, associate director of Tulcan Management. “Many of us would shudder at the thought of having essentially three mother-in-laws. But in this case that’s where we’d all be wrong. Darla, Norma Jean, and Nina all fit in and lend their own strengths, and together they make a fantastic foursome. Together they’re the mother equivalent of [superhero robot] Voltron!”

“People tell me I will be angry, Lord. I do not want to be angry. Lord, take my anger.”

“I did not see her smile or laugh for over a year. She was there, but she was not really there,” recalls Claudine’s mom, Memorial resident Norma Jean Moore. “She had support from family and friends, but she is a believer. I never thought she was mad or blamed God. I have known people who lost their husbands, and they were very, very mad for a long time. Not Claudine, she gave it to God.”

Moore, a real estate agent with Woodway Realty, says Claudine’s Christian faith has been steadfast since youth. “She has always been the one who would write me Bible verses,” says Moore. “I used to keep a little stick-on note with verse in my wallet for years. My daughter is always encouraging me, and she is a really incredible mother.”

Conrad Hartland, Claudine Hartland, Norma Jean Moore, Darla Stone, Nina Hendee, Joan Hartland

A CIRCLE OF LOVE Conrad Hartland, 3, sits on his mother Claudine Hartland’s lap and is surrounded by his four grandmothers: (from left) Norma Jean Moore, Darla Stone, Nina Hendee and Joan Hartland. (Photo: lawellphoto.com)

Looking back, Claudine’s first parents-in-law, Nina and Edd Hendee, took Claudine and the kids into their Memorial home, ministering to their every need. A funeral was planned. Claudine and Edd K.’s Connecticut house was sold. Lives were restarted. And while the days were rocky, the nights were achingly difficult. “I used to lay in bed and cry so hard, my whole body would shake,” recalls Claudine, whose expressive eyes recount the sadness. “I just remember saying: ‘Lord, please take it from me, take my pain.’ And my whole body would just relax and I would sleep.”

Nina, who owns The Taste of Texas restaurant with husband Edd, says, “Our lives changed forever with a phone call from Claudine telling us our son had a skiing accident and had died instantly. He caught an edge on ice, hit his shoulder on a tree and was gone before he hit the ground with a torn aorta in his heart. My first prayer was for God to hold Claudine and the children close and for our family to see God’s mercy in the days and weeks to come. That first prayer included a prayer for a Godly man that would love her and the children when the time was right.”

“Lord, I give you this. I am not looking forward to dating, but I put it in your hands. I am a shattered vase, God. Please put me back together.”

More than a year after Edd K. died, Claudine was set up with David by mutual friend Elizabeth Fertitta. Claudine thought a widower would be able to fathom her heartbreak. Their lunch date was a success, and little by little, their relationship grew, with Claudine slowly getting pieced back together. Thoughts of Edd K. and Kristen were never far away.

“Kristen always wanted two things: to be truly loved and to be a mother. When I think of Kristen’s life, and even though it looks tragically unfair to everyone, I think maybe God knew what he was doing in that he granted her everything that she wanted during her time,” David, who is on the board of Bo’s Place, a non-profit bereavement center, says of his first wife. “I also have this thought along the lines of the Bible verse where it says ‘that your love may abound more’ because in so many ways it’s because of her life that now I see in our family that love has truly abounded.”

Darla Stone, Kristen’s mom, says there was never a moment’s hesitation accepting Claudine and her children into her heart. And, by all accounts, Darla’s heart had been broken. Her grief journey was so great, she documented the cancer and her response in a book she wrote called Inside the Shadow (available on Amazon). “I had begun to pray for this possibility a couple of years after Kristen died,” says Darla, who along with husband John, welcomed the marriage. “I also prayed that God would bring a Mom to Sam who would love him so much that a mother/son bond would form. Sam loves his new mom, and I am grateful to God for Claudine.”

And, so is Nina. “I thank God for my precious daughter-in-law and her love for me,” says Nina. “The Stone family has been a special gift, because we have the bond of having lost a child and lived to tell of God's mercy and grace.”

“Lord, I am a broken vase. Put my life back together. It will be different, and I trust it will be beautiful.”

Claudine and David’s River Oaks home is a house of love and laughter. Evidence of the children’s busy lives is apparent in the backpacks, art projects, baseball gear, balls and toys. Regularly, the grandmothers are in and out of the house, helping watch the kids and taking them for sleepovers. Nina, whom the children call ‘Honey,’ tries to stay involved on a daily basis, as when they all lived together, helping with everything from carpools to River Oaks Baptist School – where Sam, Campbell, Hudson and Reagan attend – to ball games and ballet recitals.

Joan Hartland says, “We four grandmothers have a great time when we get together because we have a lot of things in common, especially when it comes to the love and welfare of H7.”

Conrad, at age 3, is a beacon for everyone. “The addition of Conrad was more momentous than we could have known – we didn’t think things could be much more perfect, but then this adorable little boy with an oversized personality arrived and the whole family fell in love again,” says David. “I like it that Conrad’s looks favor everyone else in the family – he’s a perfect composite of his siblings, and at different times people will remark that he looks exactly like Sam or Campbell, and then others will say that he favors Reagan or Hudson. But it’s not just that we see us all together in his looks: on another level he loops us all in a little tighter because he’s a constant reminder that God ‘makes all things beautiful in his time.’ And we see that it’s true – with Conrad there’s new life and joy making beautiful what was tragedy and despair.”

“Thank you, Lord, for all your blessings and for bringing so much joy to my life again.”

“The ‘broken vase’ was a constant prayer in my life,” says Claudine, who came up with the imagery and prayer to reference how she felt after Edd K. died. “I prayed it often, and slowly saw pieces coming together. Sometimes when you are in the midst of tragedy and pain, you don’t immediately realize God’s hand at work, but when you look back you do. In my head I was totally shattered. I was a broken blue and white vase. Now I am a multi-colored vase, with all the colors representing the family I have gained and love so much. All I know is, this vase has grown, and the life God has put together for me is more beautiful and more blessed than I could ever have imagined.”

To leave a comment, please log in or create an account with The Buzz Magazines, Disqus, Facebook, or Twitter. Or you may post as a guest.