Gardiner, Anna Marie

Anna Marie Gardiner - age: 63
(January 27, 1950 to November 21, 2013 )
Resident of Redwood Valley, California

Obituary:
Anna Marie Gardiner passed away on Thursday, November 21, 2013 at the age of 63 of natural causes. She is survived by her husband Robert, son Rob (of Seattle), daughter Rebecca (of Strasbourg, France), two grandsons: Yohann (12) and Roman (6), mother-in-law, Jane Gardiner, sister Cindy, and brother F.J.

Born into a second-generation Polish/Italian family in Dearborn, Michigan on January 27, 1950 to Frank J. Michalowski (security guard) and Mary Gay (nurse), Anna moved to the Bay Area at the age of three, living several months on the Island of Alcatraz where her father worked. She often reminisced about waving to the prisoners across the yard behind bars. Her love of San Francisco and Chinatown remained with her throughout her life; she dreamed of visiting China. Her preferred authors included Pearl S. Buck and John Steinbeck though her favorite book (and film) of all time was without a doubt Gone With the Wind. Family holidays in her youth included frequent trips to Yellowstone in the family travel trailer for fishing trips.

Anna met the man of her life, Bob, at the student union at San Jose City College. Bob was fresh out of the Navy where he had been stationed in Hawaii. They fell in love and were married in San Francisco’s City Hall and in St John’s Catholic Church in Milpitas in 1969. (They would have celebrated their 44th anniversary this last Saturday.)

Anna spent 15 happy years in San Jose working as a flyer at Macy’s in the evenings and caring for her two kids and volunteering at her children’s school during the day. She was very much involved in her son’s Boy Scouts and her daughter’s dancing. The family owned a Sheltie named Sundance who lived a long and happy life. Family vacations included camping in Oklahoma, visits to the in-laws in Northern California, and trips to Disneyland.

With the exciting opportunity to help the in-laws’ budding Peruvian Paso horse ranch in Redwood Valley, Anna and Bob moved their family up to their current West Road property in 1984 and a country life began. She participated actively in cake decorating classes, quilting, 4-H leadership, home canning from her very own garden, and became a band mom at the height of the Ukiahi marching band in the early 1990s. She loved hummingbirds, daisies, Tom Selleck, her Siamese cat Elvis (R.I.P.), her little soybean-green beetle “My Zoey”, and playing Angry Birds with her grandson Yohann.

Anna’s many travels to France and elsewhere in Europe provided her with ample material for her most recent creative passion, scrapbooking, with a multitude of beautiful albums capturing the memories of her family’s adventures. Ironically, in high school in San Jose, Anna begged her dad to allow her to take French, but he refused, saying Spanish would be much more useful in life. Anna recently retired from the Savings Bank of Mendocino County after 25 years of loyal and happy service where she loved her job and was well-liked and respected by employees and customers alike.

A small, private memorial service will be held towards the end of December for family members. She will be truly missed by her family and many friends.