CRAIG KEITH HASSLER

Craig Keith Hassler died on August 4, 2021 in San Diego, California, at age 57. He is remembered by friends and family as energetic, creative, and eccentric. Small in stature but big in spirit, he talked with his hands, followed his bliss, and lived each day with intensity and passion.

 

Craig was born on May 22, 1964 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to Jane and Edward Hassler, who predeceased him. During his early years, the family lived in Colombia, Nicaragua, and Australia for his father’s work. In 1973 they returned to the states on his father’s retirement, living for a few years in Merritt Island, Florida before settling in Etters, Pennsylvania. Craig enjoyed band and track at Red Land High School, and over his teen years developed an enduring love for sailing. After several semesters studying engineering at Penn State, Craig’s growing captivation with the sea led him to transfer to Southhampton College to study Marine Biology. He went on to earn a master’s degree in Marine Environmental Sciences from S.U.N.Y. Stonybrook, completing his thesis in the field of aquaculture while working for the Town of East Hampton Shellfish Hatchery.

 

Through his twenties and thirties, Craig lived in various towns on Long Island and raised clams and oysters at the Montauk hatchery, embracing bicycle commuting, gardening, vegetarianism, and building a community of like-minded companions. He acquired some undeveloped acreage in upstate New York, and a couple sailing sloops, which kept him busy, dreaming, and adventuring during these years.

 

Always active and fit, Craig had an undeniable ease in his own skin. His unbridled energy was a force to behold, particularly on the dance floor, where his body could miraculously transform to liquid. If you ever laughed so hard you cried, chances are it happened with him. A conversation with Craig was no surface affair; he was a big talker yet also a genuine listener, a deep thinker and questioner. While he had an insatiable appetite for the stories of others, he often turned his analytic eye inward. His introspective, sensitive side found an outlet through prodigious correspondence and journaling, where it is apparent that Craig sought above all to be a good human being in the world.

 

In 2003, Craig moved to coastal North Carolina to be closer to family. There he began a new chapter by studying and practicing massage therapy, sharing his empathy and compassion for others through his business, Innate Wisdom Wellness. He lived out and proud, and was ever eager to express his unconventional ideas. He baked bread for a local market, practiced and taught yoga, kept bees, and transformed his property into an edible landscape. The gradual onset of mental illness was an unfortunate truth of the later part of this period of Craig’s life, yet his values and passions remained constant: a commitment to environmental sustainability and pedestrian-centric living, a flair for creative re-use and recycling, and a knack for making meaningful connections with people and places. Inevitably, bipolar disorder brought life-altering changes and conflict as well. It is a testament to Craig’s good qualities that, despite his struggles, he earned the enduring love of those close to him.

 

Craig lived the last decade of his life as an itinerant artist and explorer, logging thousands of miles bicycling up and down the east coast. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania became his most consistent home base, where he labored to transform a derelict industrial site into his personal “Where?House.” His habit of keeping occupied with the beautification of any place where he spent time - raking leaves, deadheading flowers, shoveling snow, cleaning up litter - brings to mind one of his favorite lines: No matter where you go, there you are.

 

An especially cold winter prompted a journey to southern California in late 2020. His final letters and journal entries express his joy in the acceptance and beauty he discovered there, and in leading a lifestyle pared down to bicycle, backpack, and tent. Craig found happiness in reconnecting with his lifelong love of the ocean, and died of a suspected heart attack during his daily swim in San Diego Bay.

 

Craig is survived and remembered with love by his friends and family, including his siblings, Diane Hardy, Edward Hassler, and Terry Hassler, and his nieces and nephews, Tom Hardy, Karen Hardy, Jeniene Bernardini, and James Hassler. He is also survived by his great-nephews and great-niece: Galen Hardy, Ezra Hardy, Marissa Bernardini, and Logan Bernardini.

 

Craig’s ashes will be scattered by friends and family at locations of significance to him, and a portion will rest next to his parents at Emmanuel Cemetery in Lewisberry, PA. In lieu of flowers, consider paying tribute to Craig through any of the simple acts he took pleasure in: write a letter, ride a bike, plant some seeds, spend a night outdoors, listen to a stranger’s story, or enjoy a pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream. Donations in his memory may be made to Downtown Daily Bread of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.