Person:Fay Gardner (1)

STORIES ABOUT FAY IVAN GARDNER TOLD BY HIS CHILDREN

Recorded August 5th 1976 at the Gardner Reunion Lakeside, Arizona

Joe Gardner: I don't think I minded being called Joe, but it irritated Grandma to have people call me Joe. I worked out at the Jaques Ranch for many years, I don't know if any of you know the Jacques's. They were anti-Mormon and didn't like us very well. I worked a good many years out there and she always called me Joseph. But Joe is what I've gone by for so many years; I hardly answer to the name Joseph. Well, above all, Granddad Gardner was honest. He had a deep feeling for the church and its authenticity. He always stood up for his kids. I remember the first time I went to Holbrook with him; he was the county assessor at that time. Holbrook was anti-Mormon. At one time you were almost afraid to claim your membership in the Mormon Church. It was so bad. But, no matter what company Dad was in, he would get hold of our hand and say, "this is my son Joseph and my son Ralph". He always made us acquainted with everyone around the courthouse and we appreciated that. He was proud of his family. He was very proud of all his family and showed it all of the time. He was a strict person and yet he loved all his kids. He was a great horseman and was known for his Bronco Busting. He was known as one of the greatest broncobusters in the area, for his age. He suffered from that, however. I don't remember just how old he was but he had great ulcers come all over his chest and almost died. We finally got him into a hospital in Albuquerque and they had a hard time saving his life because he was so shook up from riding broncos. He was known all over the area, by all the cowboys, as a great broncobuster. He believed in treating his fellow men as they should be treated. I remember one time he had a man by the name of John Freeman, who was a supervisor in Snowflake, he was coming by Woodruff to pick up Dad and take him into Holbrook. I think I was going with them, I came out and I said, "I wonder when old freeman is going to come around." Well, he just about beat me to death because I didn't say Mr. Freeman. He said, "that's Mr. Freeman, not old man Freeman". Well, that's a fine character to plant in your children, to honor the older people and not talk of them, like I did, as old man Freeman. He believed in living the gospel. He never was very active within the church, but the last thing Dad did, before he died, was address an envelope to his Bishop with his tithing in it. He died before that tithing money was delivered to his Bishop. He believed in all the principles of the Gospel and he lived them and he was a great man. I'm proud of my heritage and I'm proud that I'm a son of Fay Gardner.

Ida: I don't remember too much about Dad, because I was gone most of my life, working somewhere, so I never did get to know Dad. I'd come home for a visit for a few days or maybe a week and then I was gone again, so I don't remember much about Dad. The only thing that impressed me, when I was younger, was the fact that he was such a stickler for being on time. "You kids just stay home if you're going to go late," and he meant it. He'd just rather we stayed home from church or Sunday school, if we went in late and disturbed everyone else. He used to say to us, "good gosh almighty, you'll be late for your own funeral" and these are the things I remember about him, more than really knowing his early life or his background.

Helene I remember one time, when they lived on the Scott Ranch, Grandma and Granddad one Monday came to church. Uncle Dame was sitting on the steps of his house and Granddad said, "what's the matter with that old man, why doesn't he come and open up this church house? Everyone is going to be late." So, he walked over and thought he'd tell Uncle Dame off. "Why don't you get things done on time? I don't like to be late for things. And Uncle Dame said, "Well, Uncle Fay, ............we had church Yesterday."

Paul: This is Paul. As I remember Dad, he was a quick tempered man, when he had his ire up, but immediately when it was over, he could apologize and tell you he was sorry in a way that you knew that he meant it, and this brought him many, many friends. I remember one time Joe was talking about being respectful to the older people. When we lived on the Scott Ranch, we had a couple of men working for us and one morning Dad told me to go down and tell the guys, "we're going over to this certain hay field today and fix it up". I walked into the corral and said, "the old man says we'll go over and pitch hay today" and about that time the world fell in. The "Old Man" was right behind me with a piece of double rope and we had a little foot race around the barn. That was one of his great things, you talked to him with respect and never sassed him back, if you did, you were in trouble. He logged with the Fish Lumber Co. and was very honest with his work. He was an outstanding workman. He could do most things that he set his mind to. He was a great guy and we should always remember him as one of the finest men in the town of Lakeside.

Pearl: The thing I remember about Granddad was his generosity. I remember Grandmother baking 11 loaves of bread and giving 10 away. Granddad always thought people were in worse shape than he was. He always wanted Grandma to divide up the food, divide the money; whatever they had they wanted to share with everybody. I remember the time Nina and I were staying at Grandma and Granddad's and Nina decided to run away. Mom was playing for a dance, there was a terrible lightning storm and Grandma started out after Nina. As she started to run after Nina, she fell and cut her leg real bad but the only time she could catch up with Nina was when the lightening would strike. Nina was really quick on foot; she'd just take off in a rush. Grandma Gardner finally caught her. When she came back she was so aggravated that she handed her to granddad. Granddad was always concerned with everyone. He settled the affair by teaching us how to eat spaghetti. Grandma had Spaghetti and Granddad would get one long string of spaghetti in his mouth and slurp it up and before the evening was over, Nina was content to eat spaghetti and she didn't run off anymore. It seems like all my memories of Granddad and Grandma are wonderful. I used to take the short cut home from school, so we could stop by and have a piece of that hot bread, butter and jam because we knew it would always be waiting for us.

I think Grandma and Granddad would be very proud if they could see us all here today.

Gilbert: I guess we all had a different time when we lived at home. A different generation. Some of the older kids were gone by the time the younger kids were born. I remember Joe and Ralph were away working most of the time. The family was put together in those days for a reason. The Mom and Dad put the family together to raise the children; that was the purpose that they were married. That was there only purpose in life, to raise the kids and see that they got on a good footing, a good education and a good background. Some of my best memories were when I was at home. I found that being Fay Gardner and Eliza Gardner's son opened an awfully lot of doors in Navajo County because everyone in the county knew them, all you had to say was that you were Fay Gardner's son and you were taken in and treated like one of the family. I worked with Dad; I don't think he worked because he wanted to get the crops in but because he wanted to put us to work and to see that we weren't running the streets. I think that was one of the biggest purposes in life. We all have happy experiences, humorous experiences; you could go on for hours telling about them. I remember one time at Scott Ranch, Dad and I had worked in the field all day long and we were coming home on an old mule. When we got by the old barn, the mule got spooked and started bucking. I was between the saddle and Dad. I remember how well Dad rode, he didn't fall off the mule, like he was supposed to, he just grabbed me, held on and we both rode the mule till the mule quit bucking. It was nothing to Dad, he got us home and thought nothing of the incident; but I remember it, very well. His thoughts were always of the family. He was a very pleasant man, a humorous man, and had a great sense of humor. I remember him scaring the Grandkids by dropping his teeth and making them yell. It was always a picnic to be around the family because it was a pleasant thing. It was a pleasant life, a hard life but it was a down to earth, grass roots way to live; where day to day, the reason to be in existence was to see that the kids and grandchildren had an opportunity to do better and to get ahead in the world. I've always been very proud of the family and feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to live here and be a part of this great tradition, not only in the church, but the family itself.

Ruth: I'm the youngest girl. I think the thing I remember most about Dad was his great pride in his children. I remember coming home from Florida and he immediately took us down to the newspaper to meet his good friend, the editor, because we were his family. I think probably all through my life it has been a great pleasure to say, "I am a Gardner" and there's been a few times I've wondered why people haven't reacted a little better because to be a Gardner is really the greatest. In the area we live in now, there are quite a few Gardners, Stake Presidents and things. I say I'm a Gardner and this is a thing of pride. Some of the funny things I remember about dad are when we lived on the Scott Ranch. One day he was chasing Robert around and around the house because Robert had broken something and Dad was trying to catch him. By the time he caught him he was laughing so hard that they both had to sit down and laugh. Bob was never punished because dad was laughing to hard.... Of course he was the baby to, and this had something to do with it. Another thing I remember about the Scott ranch was hauling buttermilk down to the field. Dad loved fresh buttermilk and hid it under a tree to keep it cool. He would drink the buttermilk and this was just the greatest thing, to haul buttermilk to him. I think Dad's one statement that has lived with me most of my life, was, "Remember who you are, don't forget where you came from and remember who you are".

Willie: I don't think I respected anyone more, except my own Dad, than Dad Gardner. Dad Gardner was a wonderful person. One time he got very, very upset with me though. We had our second boy, who was a twin. He was such a tiny little thing and was so cute. One night I was dressing him up in doll clothes and had him all dressed up in girl's clothes and I said, "Oh this is just to cute, we've got to go up and show Grandma and Grandpa Gardner." So, we came up and it was snowing outside, when we came in. Dad Gardner picked that little boy up and said, "isn't she precious." Well somehow I thought she was a boy. We didn't say anything for awhile and pretty soon Granddad said, "by George you did have a boy." I said, "yes, this is a boy". He said, "get those damn clothes off that boy. You don't put girls clothes on a boy now get them off fast." He was very upset. Gilbert said something about him dropping his teeth. We were on our way to Woodruff when my first child was born, we were riding along and I looked up into the mirror and I saw the most hideous looking monster back there, his teeth were all I could see, it was horrible. I screamed, almost had my baby right there. As I said both parents were just terrific, I couldn't have picked a better family to be married into. I truly respected Mom and Dad Gardner; they were wonderful, wonderful people.

Paul: We've been telling the good side of Mom and Dad, the pleasant side. One day I came down by the house and Dad was out in the back and Mom's at the front door, she's headed out, I said, "Where you going Mom," she said, "I'm going for the sheriff". "What in the world you going for the sheriff for." Well, Jimmy left his car here, blocked up on blocks and he told nobody, I mean nobody, to touch his car, and Fay is telling that damned Lane Gillespie to take that car out of the back yard and I'm going to have them both arrested. We talked to them awhile and then I went around to the back and when I got around to the back they were backing the car back into the yard and Dad was telling Lane; "we better put it back up on the blocks, because that damned old women will sure do that. So, we talked to them and got her calmed down and settled. By the will of the Lord and my strong talking, we kept from having Dad arrested for car theft. This is a funny story and to me it's a great story. This is the kind of character Grandma and Granddad had. When they were asked to do something, they did it, they didn't deviate from it for their children or for anyone else. Before Dad was married, he had a little black horse that he could ride anyplace. In Woodruff at the old A.M.C.I. building, the stairway went up the side of a two-story building. They had the first hardwood dance floor in Navajo County. They were holding a dance and Dad rode his horse up the stairs, up the outside, rode it around the dance floor and back down out into the yard. "There comes Fay Gardner again, he's at it again". Another one of his great pleasures was, when Church was going on, out in front of this same building, they had a big step and his great pleasure was to run this horse across the step. The horse would hit the step one time, jump over it and then turn around and come back until Bishop Savage would come out and run him off.

Joe: One of Dad's great characteristics was to always think of people's pleasure and comfort. If you entered the house you wouldn't be there more than 4 or 5 minutes until Dad would say, "have you had anything to eat." He'd always do that and I think that was probably a western trait, at that time people were more conscious of people needing something to eat than they are now because they Weren't around anyplace where they could buy something. Someone had to feed them. All my life, I can remember Dad saying. "Have you had anything to eat". Mom could never expect what was going to come from Dad. One time he came bringing the Governor, Governor Osborn in by the hand, in that old building over there where I live now, it wasn't fixed up to well but It didn't make any difference to Dad who he was, if he was a friend. Mom was always able to prepare a meal at any time. That was one of her great characteristics. You didn't know where the meal was coming from but she would always get together a nice meal in just a few minutes. And that was one of Dad's great pleasures, bringing someone home for something to eat. We hardly have time now to say Howdy, let alone invite someone to eat with us; Dad always saw to it that you had something to eat. I remember another time, he was a great disciplinarian, We lived in Woodruff, out on a little ranch just outside of Woodruff and he sent me to town one evening to get a bridle that someone had borrowed. I was a little late getting back; I got to play run sheepie run or something. I didn't get back and we were around the campfire and pretty soon Dad showed up and he got hold of me, jerked me away from that fire and I knew what to do. I went home down that long lane, every time I took a step that plumb willow hit me. He never let up; he whipped me all the way home. So, anytime he told me to do something, that experience stayed with me and I didn't play run sheepie when Dad sent me to get something.

Bernie Grandma and Grandpa Gardner were elderly when I met them. I guess about as old as I am now. I was about 22 years old and about ready to marry Ruth. I remember one time, they came to spend a weekend with us, I was out in the black planting a garden and I thought I would get some expert help from Dad Gardner since he was an old farm hand. I asked him a few questions and he said, "I couldn't hoe a straight row if I had to". I think it was during the same visit that I had some music on the radio, as I was working out there. Some western music came on that I thought he'd appreciate, but it turned out to be some old twangy voiced guy singing some old church ballad and we had a big laugh. That wasn't his idea of church music at all.

Willie: I think we have about the last pictures that were taken of Grandma and Grandpa Gardner, together with my mother and dad. They were all visiting Paul and I in Phoenix. I wanted to take some pictures but Paul said, "Oh Honey, your always wanting to take pictures". Grandpa Gardner said, "If this little girl wants to take pictures, we're going to take pictures and nobody is going to stop it. Get out here and stand up here where she wants us. "Where do you want us?' we got pictures.

Joe: This is just a matter of history. I don't know how many of you have thought about it or not, but there were seven of us boys, seven boys and we were only together one time in our lives. Now that's a little hard to understand that seven brothers would grow up to be grown men with families and only be together one time in our lives. The only time we got all seven brothers together was when Dad died; No other time was we all together. I was older and was gone to work when the young ones came along and that is an unusual thing that seven brothers would grow up and be together only one time in their lives.

Pearl: I remember Daddy was very unhappy about me wanting to marry my present husband, Mazel. We've been married happily 29 years. Grandma Gardner was very wise lady. Daddy was really giving me a hard time, he said, "If you marry him, you can't ever come home." So I went to Grandma Gardner for help. I said, "Grandma will you help me out?" Grandma wrote Daddy a letter and she said, "listen Son, I want to tell you something. When you and Helene decided to get Married you didn't tell me about it, you went up and you got Flossy Johnson to go with you to Holbrook, to the justice of the peace, you got marred and no one knew anything about it. Now if your daughter wants to marry this man you should O.K. it, you should agree with it". And from that time on Daddy was on our side, but Grandma had to really lecture him.

Ida: Anytime we were doing something that Grandma didn't quite go along with, she'd say, "listen Ida, I'm going to tell you what I think and then you can do as you please."

Ruth: Libby, Robert's daughter, is here and she wanted me to tell the story that I told the other night, about when Grandpa Gardner was trying to drive a car. He got so mad at his car when it wouldn't stop when he was saying whoa. So, he got mad, kicked it, and broke his toe. Libby thought that was a funny story. There's another story too, he got mad at the cow and also kicked it and broke a toe. I think he probably had a pretty good temper. By the time I came along he had mellowed, so we don't really have the stories that some of the older children have about him.

Gilbert: When Dad and I stayed over in Linden for a summer and a half, we lived next door to the Thomas's. I'll always remember how good those people were over there; everyone was scratching around trying to get a crop to grow. I remember Larrie Thomas's Dad and his Granddad, they had a pretty good little ranch and we'd go up there and they were always willing to lend us their equipment and come down and work with us. I think the Gardners have done well in getting good in-laws and I've always been pretty sure we've been a pretty good judge of character. I remember Grandma Gardner telling me; "If you ever get a chance to help the Thomas's; If you ever get a chance to help those who have been good to us; you better do it or your going to by on my list. So, there have been a lot of good people that came into the family. They have supported us and I think the In-laws and the people that have married members of the family have been a distinct advantage and credit to us. I remember Ida and Emma, they didn't stay home very much but I remember this one morning at breakfast, a great commotion erupted, everyone was getting ready for school and Ida and Emma got into a big fight. They were just tearing each other up. Grandma Gardner was all upset and she was trying to separate them. Dad got to laughing about it and got between them and they were about to kill him trying to get at each other. He was laughing his head off. He was able sometimes, under real stress, to look with humor and soon, the ordeal was over and he was able to settle the thing with a laugh. It might have been the most serious thing in the world to Emma and Ida but he settled it by laughing at them and they went off to school, in just a few minutes, laughing at themselves. They went off with no more hard feelings. When Bob was a young high school boy, maybe 13 or 14, he was reading a book that Dad didn't think he should read. So, Dad threw it in the fireplace and burned it. So Bob left home and said no one was going to tell him what he could read and what he couldn't read. Dad and Mother let him stay for a night, then Dad got on his horse and went looking for him, to bring him back. As Gilbert said, he could always laugh at the right time. He said, "I chased the Damn kid all through the pines and I can't catch him. He said, "he'll come home when he gets hungry enough." I'm not sure that Bob is still so strong in his feelings about censorship but he certainly knew his rights at that time.

Helen: Grandpa really loved nature, I remember one night he was chopping wood, the sun was just going down and it was a beautiful sunset; he put his axe down, looked up and said, "Hurrah for God."

Paul: Dad, Ralph two Farnsworths and myself were building a little sawmill on a hill right above Heber. These two Farnsworths, Dad and I were in camp, around the campfire, watching one of these beautiful sunsets. Dad was sitting there looking at it, just as the sun was going down and he said, "Did you ever see anything as beautiful in all your life". One of the Farnsworths said, "Oh Hell, I can't see anything pretty about it". I don't think I've ever seen Dad get any madder any quicker. He never said a word, just got up and walked off.