Suggested edit: OBITUARY
Ava Ann Gardner, age 81, of Lamoni, Iowa, was the sixth child and only daughter of Alfonso “Fon” Marion and Ara Leona (Turley) Wallace. She was born on October 15, 1932, on the family farm near Bald Knob, Arkansas and died at the Lamoni Nursing and Rehab Center on Sunday, November 17, 2013.
At the age of nine she made her covenant with Christ in baptism in a flowing stream near her farm home in Bald Knob. She was faithful to that covenant throughout her entire life.
Until the fourth grade, Ava attended a three-room rural school-house near Bald Knob. She continued her education “in town” when the various country schools consolidated in 1942. This meant, however, a three-mile walk into school every day and another three miles home. Bussing students to school didn’t start until she was ready for the 9th grade.
She graduated from Bald Knob High School in 1950 and that fall enrolled at Graceland College in Lamoni, Iowa. Her nursing major obliged her to spend three years in training at the Independence Sanitarium and Hospital in Independence, Missouri. Her training completed and she received the A.A. degree from Graceland in 1954, the same year that she was certified as a Registered Nurse in Missouri.
On the afternoon of her college graduation, May 28, 1954, at the Lamoni Community of Christ church, she married Arthur Leslie Gardner, whom she had met during her freshman year at Graceland. After the wedding she joined him in Guelph, Ontario, where he was serving as a minister for the Community of Christ. Ava joined the staff at Guelph General Hospital. Subsequently she and Les served together as a ministerial team in New Zealand (1956-1960); Independence, Missouri (1960-1961); and South Korea (1961-1966). In 1966 the couple relocated to Honolulu, Hawaii, where Ava was employed at Kaiser Permanente Hospital on Waikiki Beach, while Les earned his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Hawaii.
In both Korea and Hawaii Ava expanded her nursing experience in ways she could never have imagined when she began her training. There was a great deal of poverty in Korea in the years the family lived there, so to serve the needs of her local community, Ava operated a clinic in the basement of the family home. She found herself treating conditions she had only previously read about in textbooks. In Honolulu she was selected by the hospital to engage in extensive specialized training in the care of the critically ill newborn. This was accomplished through two month-long summer sessions at Columbia General Hospital in New York City. Her subsequent work in her hospital’s neo-natal intensive care unit was among her life’s demanding but most fulfilling experiences.
In 1973 the family moved to Lamoni where Les had joined the Graceland College faculty. Ava began employment at Decatur County Hospital that same fall. She retired from this position in 1993. In retirement she pursued her interest in quilting with the Lamoni Mites Society and the Heartland Quilters Guild. She filled a variety of roles in her local Community of Christ congregation, volunteered during the early years of the original Lamoni Welcome Center adjacent to Interstate 35, served on the Patient Advocate Committee at the Lamoni Nursing and Rehab Center, and engaged in many other volunteer undertakings. She was a member of Kalon Club and Avec Amis. In retirement she and Les traveled widely in all parts of the world, especially enjoying their frequent visits to Les’ homeland, Australia.
Ava and Les rejoiced in the birth of three children: Bronwyn Leslie born in Guelph, Ontario, in 1956, Brenda Joan, born in New Zealand in 1957, and Richard Leslie, born in Independence, Missouri, in 1960.
Preceding Ava in death were her parents, daughter Bronwyn, and her brothers, Vesta, A.M., and James Wallace. Left to cherish her memory is Les, her husband of 59 years; daughter Brenda Jones and grandson Derek Jones of Phoenix, Arizona; son Richard Gardner and his wife Beth of South Windsor, Connecticut; brothers, John Wallace and wife Wanda of Rogers, Arkansas, and Calvin Wallace and wife Rudean of Bald Knob, Arkansas; sisters-in law Wanda Wallace of Mesa, Arizona, and Vina Wallace of Flippin, Arkansas; and many cherished nieces and nephews and their children in both the Wallace and Gardner families.
A memorial service to celebrate Ava’s life was held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, November 23, at the Community of Christ in Lamoni with Evangelist Bruce Graybill and High Priest Barbara Lee Collins officiating. Visitation was during the hour preceding the service. Interment at Rose Hill Cemetery in Lamoni followed the service.
For those wishing to make a memorial gift, the family suggests the Nursing Endowed Scholarship Fund, Graceland University, 1 University Place, Lamoni, IA 50140.
The Slade-O’Donnell Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.
Contributor: JimJ (49970101)
Ava Ann Gardner, age 81, of Lamoni, Iowa, was the sixth child and only daughter of Alfonso “Fon” Marion and Ara Leona (Turley) Wallace. She was born on October 15, 1932, on the family farm near Bald Knob, Arkansas and died at the Lamoni Nursing and Rehab Center on Sunday, November 17, 2013.
At the age of nine she made her covenant with Christ in baptism in a flowing stream near her farm home in Bald Knob. She was faithful to that covenant throughout her entire life.
Until the fourth grade, Ava attended a three-room rural school-house near Bald Knob. She continued her education “in town” when the various country schools consolidated in 1942. This meant, however, a three-mile walk into school every day and another three miles home. Bussing students to school didn’t start until she was ready for the 9th grade.
She graduated from Bald Knob High School in 1950 and that fall enrolled at Graceland College in Lamoni, Iowa. Her nursing major obliged her to spend three years in training at the Independence Sanitarium and Hospital in Independence, Missouri. Her training completed and she received the A.A. degree from Graceland in 1954, the same year that she was certified as a Registered Nurse in Missouri.
On the afternoon of her college graduation, May 28, 1954, at the Lamoni Community of Christ church, she married Arthur Leslie Gardner, whom she had met during her freshman year at Graceland. After the wedding she joined him in Guelph, Ontario, where he was serving as a minister for the Community of Christ. Ava joined the staff at Guelph General Hospital. Subsequently she and Les served together as a ministerial team in New Zealand (1956-1960); Independence, Missouri (1960-1961); and South Korea (1961-1966). In 1966 the couple relocated to Honolulu, Hawaii, where Ava was employed at Kaiser Permanente Hospital on Waikiki Beach, while Les earned his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Hawaii.
In both Korea and Hawaii Ava expanded her nursing experience in ways she could never have imagined when she began her training. There was a great deal of poverty in Korea in the years the family lived there, so to serve the needs of her local community, Ava operated a clinic in the basement of the family home. She found herself treating conditions she had only previously read about in textbooks. In Honolulu she was selected by the hospital to engage in extensive specialized training in the care of the critically ill newborn. This was accomplished through two month-long summer sessions at Columbia General Hospital in New York City. Her subsequent work in her hospital’s neo-natal intensive care unit was among her life’s demanding but most fulfilling experiences.
In 1973 the family moved to Lamoni where Les had joined the Graceland College faculty. Ava began employment at Decatur County Hospital that same fall. She retired from this position in 1993. In retirement she pursued her interest in quilting with the Lamoni Mites Society and the Heartland Quilters Guild. She filled a variety of roles in her local Community of Christ congregation, volunteered during the early years of the original Lamoni Welcome Center adjacent to Interstate 35, served on the Patient Advocate Committee at the Lamoni Nursing and Rehab Center, and engaged in many other volunteer undertakings. She was a member of Kalon Club and Avec Amis. In retirement she and Les traveled widely in all parts of the world, especially enjoying their frequent visits to Les’ homeland, Australia.
Ava and Les rejoiced in the birth of three children: Bronwyn Leslie born in Guelph, Ontario, in 1956, Brenda Joan, born in New Zealand in 1957, and Richard Leslie, born in Independence, Missouri, in 1960.
Preceding Ava in death were her parents, daughter Bronwyn, and her brothers, Vesta, A.M., and James Wallace. Left to cherish her memory is Les, her husband of 59 years; daughter Brenda Jones and grandson Derek Jones of Phoenix, Arizona; son Richard Gardner and his wife Beth of South Windsor, Connecticut; brothers, John Wallace and wife Wanda of Rogers, Arkansas, and Calvin Wallace and wife Rudean of Bald Knob, Arkansas; sisters-in law Wanda Wallace of Mesa, Arizona, and Vina Wallace of Flippin, Arkansas; and many cherished nieces and nephews and their children in both the Wallace and Gardner families.
A memorial service to celebrate Ava’s life was held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, November 23, at the Community of Christ in Lamoni with Evangelist Bruce Graybill and High Priest Barbara Lee Collins officiating. Visitation was during the hour preceding the service. Interment at Rose Hill Cemetery in Lamoni followed the service.
For those wishing to make a memorial gift, the family suggests the Nursing Endowed Scholarship Fund, Graceland University, 1 University Place, Lamoni, IA 50140.
The Slade-O’Donnell Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.
Contributor: JimJ (49970101)
Suggested edit: OBITUARY
Ava Ann Gardner, age 81, of Lamoni, Iowa, was the sixth child and only daughter of Alfonso “Fon” Marion and Ara Leona (Turley) Wallace. She was born on October 15, 1932, on the family farm near Bald Knob, Arkansas and died at the Lamoni Nursing and Rehab Center on Sunday, November 17, 2013.
At the age of nine she made her covenant with Christ in baptism in a flowing stream near her farm home in Bald Knob. She was faithful to that covenant throughout her entire life.
Until the fourth grade, Ava attended a three-room rural school-house near Bald Knob. She continued her education “in town” when the various country schools consolidated in 1942. This meant, however, a three-mile walk into school every day and another three miles home. Bussing students to school didn’t start until she was ready for the 9th grade.
She graduated from Bald Knob High School in 1950 and that fall enrolled at Graceland College in Lamoni, Iowa. Her nursing major obliged her to spend three years in training at the Independence Sanitarium and Hospital in Independence, Missouri. Her training completed and she received the A.A. degree from Graceland in 1954, the same year that she was certified as a Registered Nurse in Missouri.
On the afternoon of her college graduation, May 28, 1954, at the Lamoni Community of Christ church, she married Arthur Leslie Gardner, whom she had met during her freshman year at Graceland. After the wedding she joined him in Guelph, Ontario, where he was serving as a minister for the Community of Christ. Ava joined the staff at Guelph General Hospital. Subsequently she and Les served together as a ministerial team in New Zealand (1956-1960); Independence, Missouri (1960-1961); and South Korea (1961-1966). In 1966 the couple relocated to Honolulu, Hawaii, where Ava was employed at Kaiser Permanente Hospital on Waikiki Beach, while Les earned his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Hawaii.
In both Korea and Hawaii Ava expanded her nursing experience in ways she could never have imagined when she began her training. There was a great deal of poverty in Korea in the years the family lived there, so to serve the needs of her local community, Ava operated a clinic in the basement of the family home. She found herself treating conditions she had only previously read about in textbooks. In Honolulu she was selected by the hospital to engage in extensive specialized training in the care of the critically ill newborn. This was accomplished through two month-long summer sessions at Columbia General Hospital in New York City. Her subsequent work in her hospital’s neo-natal intensive care unit was among her life’s demanding but most fulfilling experiences.
In 1973 the family moved to Lamoni where Les had joined the Graceland College faculty. Ava began employment at Decatur County Hospital that same fall. She retired from this position in 1993. In retirement she pursued her interest in quilting with the Lamoni Mites Society and the Heartland Quilters Guild. She filled a variety of roles in her local Community of Christ congregation, volunteered during the early years of the original Lamoni Welcome Center adjacent to Interstate 35, served on the Patient Advocate Committee at the Lamoni Nursing and Rehab Center, and engaged in many other volunteer undertakings. She was a member of Kalon Club and Avec Amis. In retirement she and Les traveled widely in all parts of the world, especially enjoying their frequent visits to Les’ homeland, Australia.
Ava and Les rejoiced in the birth of three children: Bronwyn Leslie born in Guelph, Ontario, in 1956, Brenda Joan, born in New Zealand in 1957, and Richard Leslie, born in Independence, Missouri, in 1960.
Preceding Ava in death were her parents, daughter Bronwyn, and her brothers, Vesta, A.M., and James Wallace. Left to cherish her memory is Les, her husband of 59 years; daughter Brenda Jones and grandson Derek Jones of Phoenix, Arizona; son Richard Gardner and his wife Beth of South Windsor, Connecticut; brothers, John Wallace and wife Wanda of Rogers, Arkansas, and Calvin Wallace and wife Rudean of Bald Knob, Arkansas; sisters-in law Wanda Wallace of Mesa, Arizona, and Vina Wallace of Flippin, Arkansas; and many cherished nieces and nephews and their children in both the Wallace and Gardner families.
A memorial service to celebrate Ava’s life was held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, November 23, at the Community of Christ in Lamoni with Evangelist Bruce Graybill and High Priest Barbara Lee Collins officiating. Visitation was during the hour preceding the service. Interment at Rose Hill Cemetery in Lamoni followed the service.
For those wishing to make a memorial gift, the family suggests the Nursing Endowed Scholarship Fund, Graceland University, 1 University Place, Lamoni, IA 50140.
The Slade-O’Donnell Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.
Contributor: JimJ (49970101)
Ava Ann Gardner, age 81, of Lamoni, Iowa, was the sixth child and only daughter of Alfonso “Fon” Marion and Ara Leona (Turley) Wallace. She was born on October 15, 1932, on the family farm near Bald Knob, Arkansas and died at the Lamoni Nursing and Rehab Center on Sunday, November 17, 2013.
At the age of nine she made her covenant with Christ in baptism in a flowing stream near her farm home in Bald Knob. She was faithful to that covenant throughout her entire life.
Until the fourth grade, Ava attended a three-room rural school-house near Bald Knob. She continued her education “in town” when the various country schools consolidated in 1942. This meant, however, a three-mile walk into school every day and another three miles home. Bussing students to school didn’t start until she was ready for the 9th grade.
She graduated from Bald Knob High School in 1950 and that fall enrolled at Graceland College in Lamoni, Iowa. Her nursing major obliged her to spend three years in training at the Independence Sanitarium and Hospital in Independence, Missouri. Her training completed and she received the A.A. degree from Graceland in 1954, the same year that she was certified as a Registered Nurse in Missouri.
On the afternoon of her college graduation, May 28, 1954, at the Lamoni Community of Christ church, she married Arthur Leslie Gardner, whom she had met during her freshman year at Graceland. After the wedding she joined him in Guelph, Ontario, where he was serving as a minister for the Community of Christ. Ava joined the staff at Guelph General Hospital. Subsequently she and Les served together as a ministerial team in New Zealand (1956-1960); Independence, Missouri (1960-1961); and South Korea (1961-1966). In 1966 the couple relocated to Honolulu, Hawaii, where Ava was employed at Kaiser Permanente Hospital on Waikiki Beach, while Les earned his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Hawaii.
In both Korea and Hawaii Ava expanded her nursing experience in ways she could never have imagined when she began her training. There was a great deal of poverty in Korea in the years the family lived there, so to serve the needs of her local community, Ava operated a clinic in the basement of the family home. She found herself treating conditions she had only previously read about in textbooks. In Honolulu she was selected by the hospital to engage in extensive specialized training in the care of the critically ill newborn. This was accomplished through two month-long summer sessions at Columbia General Hospital in New York City. Her subsequent work in her hospital’s neo-natal intensive care unit was among her life’s demanding but most fulfilling experiences.
In 1973 the family moved to Lamoni where Les had joined the Graceland College faculty. Ava began employment at Decatur County Hospital that same fall. She retired from this position in 1993. In retirement she pursued her interest in quilting with the Lamoni Mites Society and the Heartland Quilters Guild. She filled a variety of roles in her local Community of Christ congregation, volunteered during the early years of the original Lamoni Welcome Center adjacent to Interstate 35, served on the Patient Advocate Committee at the Lamoni Nursing and Rehab Center, and engaged in many other volunteer undertakings. She was a member of Kalon Club and Avec Amis. In retirement she and Les traveled widely in all parts of the world, especially enjoying their frequent visits to Les’ homeland, Australia.
Ava and Les rejoiced in the birth of three children: Bronwyn Leslie born in Guelph, Ontario, in 1956, Brenda Joan, born in New Zealand in 1957, and Richard Leslie, born in Independence, Missouri, in 1960.
Preceding Ava in death were her parents, daughter Bronwyn, and her brothers, Vesta, A.M., and James Wallace. Left to cherish her memory is Les, her husband of 59 years; daughter Brenda Jones and grandson Derek Jones of Phoenix, Arizona; son Richard Gardner and his wife Beth of South Windsor, Connecticut; brothers, John Wallace and wife Wanda of Rogers, Arkansas, and Calvin Wallace and wife Rudean of Bald Knob, Arkansas; sisters-in law Wanda Wallace of Mesa, Arizona, and Vina Wallace of Flippin, Arkansas; and many cherished nieces and nephews and their children in both the Wallace and Gardner families.
A memorial service to celebrate Ava’s life was held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, November 23, at the Community of Christ in Lamoni with Evangelist Bruce Graybill and High Priest Barbara Lee Collins officiating. Visitation was during the hour preceding the service. Interment at Rose Hill Cemetery in Lamoni followed the service.
For those wishing to make a memorial gift, the family suggests the Nursing Endowed Scholarship Fund, Graceland University, 1 University Place, Lamoni, IA 50140.
The Slade-O’Donnell Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.
Contributor: JimJ (49970101)
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