March 29, 2024 

Nancy Susan Gardner, of Napa, died the morning of 26 March 2024, due to a long period of illnesses stemming from panhypopituitarism dating back over 45 years.

Nancy was born in Auburn, Washington, on August 15, 1946, to Alyce M. Black and was raised initially by her great-grandmother, Daisy Morrison, and then by her grandmother, Myrtle Myhre, and her husband, William Myhre, all deceased. This gave Nancy a solid footing in life, and she was a happy Child. At age nine, she was taken to Sunnyvale, California, to live with her mother and her mother’s husband (her stepfather), both deceased. Nancy’s biological father is unknown. Nancy was largely ignored by her mother and stepfather; she was treated mostly as domestic help. But she had the inner strength to rise above this negligence and exploitation. Nancy is survived by her half-sister Vicki Stewart and Vicki’s three children, Amber Stewart, Lori Gale Stewart, and Ryan Stewart, all of Washington State, and by her two estranged half-siblings, Stanley Lenhart and Judy Hall.

Nancy was educated in Snoqualmie County, Washington, and then in Santa Clara County, California. Since graduation (as Nancy Susan Hall) from Sunnyvale High School in 1964, she attended various colleges, depending on where she and her husband as of June 19, 1966, William (Bill) Gardner, were living, including Foothill College in Los Altos, CA; Merrimack College in Andover MA; University of Massachusetts, Amherst; and University of California, Davis. She majored first in anthropology and later in comparative literature, with a specialization in French, and studies in Music. She also took many non-university classes in oil painting, crafts, knitting, and weaving. 

Nancy was loved by many for her infectious laugh, warmth, calm and gentle manner, wisdom, and grace; she was often sought out by friends and family for her sage advice in personal matters. She was considered the voice of reason during her many years of service to the Napa Valley Tennis Association, where she was regularly sought out to help resolve issues in the most copasetic manner possible. She was a well-grounded self-made woman who weathered much adversity in her life due to the many health challenges she faced. She was bright, resourceful, and resilient.

Nancy was a true experimentalist at heart and for this reason became a “Jane of all Trades.”  She experimented throughout her life with innumerable occupations and activities, including—for example—volunteer Girl Scout troop leader (with no children of her own), retail clothing sales and floor manager, clerical support and receptionist positions (e.g., for the Stanford Law School), administrative assistance in academia for department heads and a director of an honors program at University of Massachusetts, writer for the affirmative action program in the Vice Chancellor’s Office and developer of a newsletter at the University of Washington, personnel and arts management, which included a stint as concert manager at University of California Davis, editorial assistant for the Nineteenth Century Music Journal, freelance editor for clients such as the California Association of Local Arts Agencies and Napa County Arts Council, volunteer work at UCD Committee for Arts and Lectures, self-employed travel agent, hand-weaver of one-of-a-kind garments, administrator, bookkeeper, and national-security officer for Bill’s engineering R & D business, and supporter of Bill in his various academic/professional activities, including her role as what Bill called his personal ambassador (leveraging her foreign language skills to compensate for Bill’s quiet demeanor) for his conference travels and lecture tours, presenting the results of his academic research. 

Although never employed as a chef, Nancy was known by all her friends and family as a chef extraordinaire, always experimenting with new tantalizing dishes. Nancy accumulated over her lifetime an impressive culinary library. She often said that she was inspired by her step-grandfather, William Myhre, a logging-camp baker and chef in Washington State, who’s cooking was central to her childhood. Her cuisine was often the centerpiece of social gatherings with friends, including many graduate-student get-togethers at her and Bill’s home during their nearly thirty years in academia at UC Davis. Over a 50-year period, she collected recipes she thought were special. Bill and a pair of editorial consultants integrated about 3000 of these for Nancy into an eBook cookbook, which will soon be distributed to her family and friends.

Nancy was an avid tennis player for most of her adult life, both for the pure joy of it and as a source of good exercise. She had unusual (“amazing” in Bill’s words) eye-hand coordination, which she leveraged at the net and demonstrated in racket ball, squash, and table tennis. In the early years of their marriage, Bill was so impressed with this talent that he would—like an adolescent—often toss small objects, such as a piece of fruit, in her direction from behind as he called out “Nancy! Catch! upon which she would twirl around and snatch the flying object out of the air in a fraction of a second. 

She also devoured books on a wide diversity of subjects and was hooked on crossword puzzles—of which she did several on a daily basis, particularly those in The New York Times and in published collections of crosswords puzzles. In addition, she enjoyed piano and harpsicord playing and took lessons off and on as an adult.

Hobbies that she shared with Bill included international travel, international cuisine, back-roads touring on Bill’s motorcycle—a British 1975 Norton Commando 850cc—throughout rural northern California, and especially along the North Coast and Redwood Forests, but also in the Sierra’s and their foothills, over a period of 30 years, where they spent many happy Spring, Summer, and Fall days. They moved on to sports car touring thereafter. One of their favorite trips was Island hopping via ferries in the San Juan Islands; they also did a similar tour throughout the Bay of Islands region in North Island, New Zealand. Her favorite car was a British Racing Green convertible Jaguar XK8. 

They traveled extensively, mostly by rental-car touring and coast-line cruises throughout Scandinavia, Northwestern Europe, Southwestern Europe, the Greek Islands, Caribbean Islands, and Eastern Australia and Northern New Zealand.

Nancy was an animal lover and had over the years a number of dogs, cats, and parrots, often all three species at once. She was a natural animal trainer.

In retirement, Nancy became an even more voracious reader, ever expanding her perspective on humanity.  Because of her strong character, Nancy managed, with one life threatening illness after another since her early thirties, to not become depressed or embittered, but to bounce back with an untiring positive outlook on life. Her friends liked to ask her in jest which of her proverbial “cat’s nine lives” she was presently living.  As Bill was known to say, “I attribute my happiness and satisfaction with my adult life first and foremost to my partnership with Nancy”. They had a long, close, and loving marriage for almost 60 years during which they were deeply committed to simply making each other happy. 

Nancy is survived by her husband, William A. Gardner.