Donna Gardner

Donna Marie Gardner of Moscow, ID, passed away peacefully at home due to age-related causes on Wednesday, April 6, 2022.

Born January 29, 1932, to M.E. “Mike” and Dora E. Hanson, she and her younger brother Richard “Dick” A. Hanson grew up on the family homestead four miles west of Ferdinand, ID. Donna attended the one room Pine Grove School and graduated Valedictorian from Ferdinand High School in 1949. As a student, Donna won multiple sewing awards including a train trip to the National 4H convention in Chicago, IL.

Donna attended North Idaho College of Education, now Lewis-Clark State College, in Lewiston, ID, for two years until the school closed due to lack of funding under then Governor Len B. Jordan. She moved to Grangeville, ID, as one of “Jordan’s orphans”—a reference to the Governor’s lack of support—to ironically begin work for that same governor at Jordan Motors. It was back home on the Prairie where she met and later married Robert J. Gardner on January 20, 1955. During a short stint in Boise, ID, the couple welcomed daughter Mary, and by the early 1960s the family settled in Moscow. On the Palouse they added daughter Kathy, and Donna would go on to live the rest of her life in the home purchased fifty-five years ago.

Donna was a bookkeeping, ten key, and shorthand master. She worked for many companies, including J. A. Albertson in Boise, multiple car dealerships including Walt Housley Ford in Pullman, WA, Security Furniture in Moscow, and finally the Hayden Ross accounting firm in Moscow. As ten key and shorthand became obsolete, her boss, Pat Ross, asked Donna if she would like to learn this new thing called a “computer.” She became a computing whiz and continued as an invaluable asset before retiring at the age of 70.

Donna’s husband Bob passed in 1988, and her sharp mind and good health allowed her to survive her husband for 35 years that included abundant travel and quality time with friends and family during her senior years. She was a member of Moscow Central Lions, Women of the Moose, Bowling League, Road Runners, and the Moscow Church of the Nazarene, where she served as treasurer for twenty years. She loved gardening and spent her leisure time working in her flowerbeds.

Donna is survived by daughters Mary Brodersen of St. Louis, MO, and Kathy (Charles) Stefani of Moscow; grandson Jeff Carlson (Ben Szulanczyk) of Washington, DC, and granddaughter Kara (Caleb) Barnes of Denver, CO; step-grandson Coben (Michelle) Stefani of Plant City, FL, and step-granddaughter Chalis (Shane) Butler of Lakeland FL; five great-grand stepchildren; sister-in-law Dorothy Frei Hanson of Ferdinand; nephew Mike (Kim) Hanson of Ferdinand and nieces Corinne and Sherri Hanson of Washington. She is preceded in death by her parents, husband, son-in-law Allan Brodersen, and brother.

The family would like to thank Drs. Spain and Bouchard, Marie Martson of Elite Home Health, Guardian Property Services, Hodgins Drug, Hayden Ross, and Lori Harmon for their care of Donna, and request memorial donations be sent to either “Missions” in care of the Church of the Nazarene or Moscow Central Lions Club.

A Memorial Service will be held at the Moscow Church of the Nazarene on Tuesday, April 12, 2022, at 11:00 a.m.