Elizabeth Gardner

Elizabeth Gardner, born two days before “the day that went down in infamy,” did not have an ordinary childhood.  She was the oldest of five girls and when eleven her father died two months before a baby brother joined the family.  Once old enough to talk and understand the situation, her brother frequently commented that he felt as if he lived in a girls’ dorm.  Of those growing-up years, Elizabeth especially remembers struggling in elementary and high school, unable to see the chalkboard or hit a ball. She describes herself as a loner.

She graduated from E. C. Glass High School and earned a B. A. in music from Lynchburg College (today University of Lynchburg).  She credits these successes as leading her to new horizons, first, enrollment in the New England Conservatory, followed by marriage, which took her to live in South Carolina, then Florida, and finally Richmond.  In 1976, she divorced, settled in Washington, D. C. and until 1980 worked for the Veterans Administration in the benefits department.

As she approached her 40th birthday Elizabeth concluded attitude influences life.  She believes that her mother would have said, “Why didn’t you discover that 20 years ago?”  Friends described her as a survivor which for Elizabeth meant she was just muddling through.  Better would be to thrive and to that end she resolved to live by a special mantra, “Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again.” 

Elizabeth married John Gardner (deceased 2019) in 1984 and two years later she became a certified massage therapist and opened and operated a massage practice for 21 years.  Along with these accomplishments, Elizabeth continued to pursue her interest and talents in music.  She sang in choral groups, including solo performances in the greater Washington area. She played various instruments in the Washington Balalaika Society, wrote their newsletter, and managed the group’s small ensemble concerts, as well as many of the full orchestra’s concerts.

Still living in Washington, D.C., in 1991, Elizabeth joined the Christian Performing Artists Fellowship’s choral group.  At the same time, she experienced a “calling” to learn Russian, which she immediately pursued with vigor.  Two years later, Jerome Hines, well-known to Americans, as well as Russians, as an accomplished operatic bass and composer, invited the CPAF choral group members to accompany him to Moscow to perform his opera, I Am the Way at the Bolshoi Theater. Elizabeth reports she will never forget the thrill of singing from that stage.  But her conversations in Russian with all whom she met continues today to be one of her most treasured memories.

In 2009, Elizabeth retired, and with John moved to Tryon, North Carolina, their home base for traveling near and far.  With increased time to spend on her many hobbies Elizabeth continued to make music a part of her life in a variety of ways, especially attending classical music concerts and belonging to a music club.  Along with her joy of reading she joined a book club, as well as the Questers Antiquity Club and became an active volunteer with the Tryon History Museum. 

Elizabeth looks forward to enjoying life at Westminster Canterbury.   She continues to enjoy reading and plans to avail herself of all the opportunities to attend music programs and concerts.  She misses traveling and hopes to find someone interested in becoming a travel buddy.