Edna Irena Gardner's cremated remains were not initially taken after her death and for many years were available at Oregon State Hospital to be claimed by anyone who is related. In 2020 the ashes were received by a relative.

Edna’s father, George Hill Meats, was born in Illinois in 1855 and her mother, Alice Oshel, was born in 1858 in Lafayette, Indiana. The couple was married on 9/22/1878 in Woodson County, Kansas. Their first three children, Ivy, Bertha, and Bessie, were born in Kansas. Bertha died in 1881 Kansas shortly after her first birthday. In 1882 George, Alice and their two surviving daughters emigrated by train from Kansas to California, then by ship to Portland, Oregon. They settled in Corvallis, Benton County in Oregon's Willamette Valley.

Born on 9/4/1883, Edna was the first of George & Alice’s children to be born in Oregon. In all, Alice had 9 children: Ivy Italia (born in 1879), Bertha May (1880), Elizabeth Pearl "Bessie" (1882), Edna (1883), George “Fred” (1885), Artie Mabel (1887), Jesse Clayton (1890), Earl Clifford (1892), and Vernon Lyndel (1897). There was also a child, Lois (born about 1905), who was adopted by George & Alice Meats before 1910.

Edna attended school in Philomath in Benton County. In May 1897 before school closed for the year, awards were given to the students for special skills and accomplishments. Edna’s sister Bessie was honored for her scholastic ability while Edna won an award for “abstaining from whispering.” At the time of the 1900 census, Edna was 16, attending school part-time and living with her family in Philomath where her father was a day laborer. The family owned their farm free-and-clear of a mortgage. Her sister Bessie was a school teacher.

On 1/15/1903 at her parents’ home in Benton County, Edna married Burton Gardner. He was from Plainview, in nearby Linn County, Oregon. He was born on 10/20/1880 in Illinois. Initially they lived in Rainier, Columbia County Oregon west of Portland. On 3/22/1904 their son Lyndel Fay Gardner was born in Ranier. Edna’s parents came to Rainier two weeks later to meet their grandson. A month later in May 1904, Edna travelled to Philomath to visit her parents. That may have been the point at which she left Burton. Later that year (1904), Edna’s parents moved to Glenwood, an unincorporated area between Springfield and Eugene, Lane County, Oregon. In May 1908 in Eugene, Edna filed for divorce from Burton, alleging cruel and inhuman treatment. The divorce was granted in July 1908 and Edna was given custody of her 4 year old son.

During the census of 1910, Edna and her son Lyndel were living with her parents in Lane County, Oregon. She was a milliner in a millinery store. Millinery is the designing and manufacture of hats. Edna was said to be "widowed," but she was actually divorced. In 1910 Burton was single, living in a large boarding house in Akron, Colorado where he was a cement contractor. He later became a hardware merchant and married a woman named Nora Barnes on 6/4/1917 in Colorado.

On 1/31/1919 Edna’s brother Fred died of pneumonia related to the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-1919. He contacted the flu while serving in the US Army in France in World War I.

Before January 1920, Edna was admitted to the Oregon State Hospital, a residential facility in Salem, Oregon for the treatment of people with mental illness. It is suspected she was admitted to the institution voluntarily and/or by members of her family because no news articles have been found that report on police involvement or court action. She was listed at OSH as a patients during the 1920 census. Some patients were listed as doing tasks (such as seamstress or laundress) within the asylum, but Edna was not. It appears she was released briefly by 1921, lived with or near her parents, then was readmitted to OSH on 4/10/1926. Edna's father died less than 2 months later on 6/1/1926. Edna was a patient at the institution at the times of the censuses of 1920, 1930 and 1940.

In the 1920 census, her son Lyndel, age15, was listed with Edna's sister Bessie Weed and her family in Vernonia, Columbia County in northwestern Oregon. Lyndel was attending school while working on a dairy farm. By 1924 he was having minor run-ins with the law. The first known offense was hunting after dark. He was fined $25 and his rifle was impounded until he could pay the court. In 1926 he joined the Oregon National Guard. In April 1927 he was arrested for being in possession of intoxicants. Although he was 23 years old, Prohibition (1920 - 1933) was well under way.

In the 1930 census, Lyndel was listed in Los Angeles, probably because his father was living there. By October 1936 he had returned to Lane County, Oregon. At that time he was dating Margaret E. (Bettis) Hedin. She had previously (in 1925) been married to Englebrect Constantine Hedin who died on 5/29/1935 in Walla Walla, Washington. Margaret & Englebrect had a daughter Harriett Marie Hedin who was born on 9/4/1926. On 6/5/1937 Lyndel married Margaret.

In the 1940 census, Lyndel, Margaret and Harriett were living in Lane County were he was working as a plasterer. Lyndel’s father (Edna’s ex-husband) died on 3/23/1944 in Riverside County, California and was buried in Los Angeles County, California.

In 1950 Harriett Hedin/Gardner married Charles Deer. They had 3 daughters. In 1953 Lyndel bought partial interest in the Kessler Lumber Yard on the southern Oregon coast. The other portion was owned by his brother-in-law Oliver Bettis. Lyndel and Margaret were active in civic organizations such as the Grange and Tuberculosis Association.

Edna's mother died in 1958 at the age of 99. Edna's parents and many of her siblings were buried at Laurel Grove Cemetery near Eugene-Springfiled near their former home.

Edna died at the State Hospital in Salem on 11/9/1963 from aspirating milk and chocking on a hot dog that was caught in her throat. Her only sibling to survive her was her brother Jesse who died in California in 1965. Edna’s son Lyndel died on 4/22/1982 in Lane County.

More information about the 3500 unclaimed cremains at OSH is available at http://www.oregon.gov/oha/amh/osh/pages/cremains.aspx A book by David Maisel and a documentary by Ondi Timoner & Robert James, both entitled "Library of Dust" also provide more information.