Mary Earl Gardner

Mary E. Gardner, 75, of Denver, Colorado, died at Denver Hospice on Friday, June 8, 2012. Funeral services will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, June 16, 2012 at the Pine Bluffs Baptist Church with Pastor Dan DeBruyn officiating. Burial will be in the Pine Bluffs Cemetery. Visitation will be held at the church in Pine Bluffs one hour prior to the funeral service. Friends may visit www.cantrellfh.com to view the obituary and leave condolences for the family. Memorials may be given to Denver Hospice, 501 S. Cherry Street, Denver, Colorado, 80246-1328. The services have been entrusted to the Cantrell Funeral Home.

Mary Earl Gardner was born in Maramec, Oklahoma on June 23, 1936, the daughter of Amos and Harriet (Longgrear) Ellis. She was raised and attended school in Maramec and graduated from high school in 1954. She worked for a short time in Fairfax, Oklahoma before moving to Riverton, Wyoming and working for the ASCS office. Mary was transferred to the Cheyenne office. She met and was married to Kenneth Gardner on October 1, 1967. They made their home on the family farm south of Pine Bluffs. In 2002 they moved to Ness City, Kansas. Kenneth preceded her in death in 2011. She moved to Denver in 2012 to be closer to her daughter Melanie. She enjoyed making crafts and every year she had a craft sale the weekend before Thanksgiving of the crafts she made the previous year. Mary loved baking and had made many wedding cakes for family and friends. She loved gardening, and canning the produce that was raised in the garden. Her family was always very important in her life.

Survivors include her son Michael Gardner of Pine Bluffs, WY; daughter Melanie Gardner of Englewood, CO; brother Milton (Carol) Ellis of Mulvane, KS; sisters Fern Caudle, Santa Fe, TX., Mildred Brush of St. Louis, MO., Betty Gripe of Maramec, OK., Ramona Ellis and Sarah Shipp both of Pryor, OK. She was preceded in death by her parents, husband, one brother James Ellis and sister Marjorie Keeton.