Your great granddaughter Simone Saraf arrived June 25. I like to think that you were able to give her your good advice before she came since you aren’t here to provide it now. We miss you. Soon your house will no longer be ours although so many of your treasures have already been relocated that I imagine it would be painful to see it without them. I hope you’re pleased with what’s been done. It feels like more than simple good fortune to have sold the house so quickly and on such favorable terms. We await your first great great grandchild any day. I hope you know him. It’s wonderful that he will proudly carry the Gardner name into a new generation.
The Scott Family
From Barrett Scott (grandson through Gloria):
My favorite memories of Grandma Bobbe were playing in the fun laundry chute and also all the golf balls we could get.
Love, Barrett
From Ashton Scott (grandson through Gloria):
My favorite things about Grandma Bobbe were when she got to show us all the cool, old books, and watching grandma go up and down the mechanical chair.
Love, Ashton
From Zoe Scott (granddaughter):
I have many fond recollections of my time with Grandma Bobbe. I thoroughly loved watching her express herself through her marimba playing. I also loved when she would then let us climb onto a stool and play the marimba ourselves, never sounding near as peaceful as her. She later played at my wedding, a cherished memory. I loved her ability to guess almost all the right answers watching Jeopardy. I learned the beginning steps of how to crochet from her, a hobby I still enjoy. Of course, any child who has ever spent time in grandma’s house, can recall the famous laundry chute…my all time favorite play spot in the house! I loved to sit in the sun-drenched living room with her, hearing stories of Grandpa Wiff, and of her childhood. Reading to her from various family history books was a favorite of mine as well. Grandma had a beautiful smile!! I’m sure she is in a state of pure joy right now and smiling ear to ear, in the arms of her beloved Grandpa Wiff and revered Heavenly Father. She will forever be cherished in our memories and hearts! Until we meet again grandma….
I remember that I love you.
I used to always being really excited to go visit grandma Bobby, slide down her laundry chute, and hunt for golf balls in her yard. I remember we were spending Christmas with her at Luke and Papa’s one year when I was about six, and I had just learned to read. Her eyes were weak enough that she couldn’t read anymore, and I had just gotten a new book from Santa Claus. She sat in a big chair and had me sit with her and read my book out loud. I loved it!
Then, a few years later, I went to her house to visit her and we sat on the couch while I read to her for a little while out of a binder of family history stories that she had made. last year, I went to go visit her with Rachel, Emily, Aunt Alina, and Luke. When we reminded her who we were and how we were related to her, she told us “I don’t remember who you are, and I can’t see you, but I do remember that I love you..” Then she shared her testimony with us.
-Lydia Gardner
Cathy Zimmer-Finken
I was so surprised to read of Sister Gardner’s passing. I lived in the same ward with her many years ago and got to know the Gardner Family . I was impressed with this incredible charismatic family that worked together, played together and especially laughed together. Even as life handled the family “learning opportunities” they rallied the ranks, got through it and continued to find reasons to laugh. At the head of the family was this wonderful matriarch who adored her children and grandchildren and never seemed to slow down. And now her memory and legacy will continue on in her family. I send much love & good wishes to a family I will forever admire.
Cathy Zimmer -Finken (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada)
Barbara’s Obituary
Barbara Shurtliff Gardner, widow of Wilford Butler Gardner and daughter of Myrtle Ballard and D. Ray Shurtliff, passed away peacefully April 23, 2016, in her home of 64 years. This amazing 96-year-old woman was a lifelong resident of Salt Lake City and a fully participating member of the LDS church. She wanted people to know she loved life and felt privileged to have had all of her experiences, joyful and sorrowful.
Barbara became well acquainted with grief after the early death of her beloved husband; both were 36 years old. Nonetheless she rejoiced in her six children and in her love of the gospel, music, photography, travel, books, and problem-solving. At the age of 15, Barbara began playing the marimba and vibraphone, performing extensively throughout her life, and quit only when she could no longer stand in front of her instrument. She belonged to camera clubs, winning awards for her photography. While traveling, whether with children or by herself, she was fearless. Zipping across states in her El Camino on buying trips and “walk-abouts” was common for her. The highlight of her travel was touring China at the age of 80. Her habits of voracious and inquisitive reading lead her to collect 23,000 books and pamphlets, primarily LDS church history and Western Americana. Among the first residents at the mouth of Emigration Canyon, she and her family were later instrumental in the development of the Monument Park subdivisions.
Barbara’s problem-solving skills came to the forefront as she raised six children, ages 9 months to 14 years, following the sudden death of their father. Barbara felt fervently that she could not have raised her family without the sustaining help of her Father in Heaven and her parents. Design and Décor, a decorating business she and her sister began in 1958, was a primary solution to financial needs. After her sister, Virginia, moved to Texas, Barbara focused her business on lighting, and in 1965 founded Alfa Lite, which flourished into a renowned specialty lighting and lampshade business. Barbara loved being a business woman, both because she was able to provide employment for others and because she could provide a service to the community, using her ingenuity daily to provide truly custom, one of a kind lighting for customers. This woman, who lived life to its fullest, loved her many family members and learned from anything that came her way, will be deeply missed. We rejoice that she has blessed many with her love, and most especially that she has been reunited with the love of her life after 60 years.
She was preceded in death by her siblings, Richard (Helen) and Wendell Shurtliff and Virginia (Sanfred) Elieson. Barbara is survived by her children Gaylord (Lynell Luke) Gardner of Logan, Gloria Gardner Murdock of Salt Lake City, Wilford (Mary Jo Richardson) Gardner of College Station, Texas, Wendell (Susan Clary) Gardner of Bellevue, Washington, Barbara Gardner (Joseph) Muir of Washington, DC, and Blair (Patricia Cone) Gardner of Centerville. Also 27 grandchildren and 39 great-grandchildren. The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the General Missionary Fund or The Utah Opera.
Services: Monday May 2nd at Noon: Monument Park Stake Center, Wasatch Dr. and 1300 South Viewings: Sunday May 1st 4:30-6:00 Sunset Lawn Mortuary, 2350 E. 1300 South and 10:20-11:30 Monday at the stake center before the services.
Also see https://bsgvignettes.wordpress.com/ and www.larkinmortuary.com
A Shady Place
Gay and Lyn partnered with Grandma to start this Park City lampshade store when they moved to Utah from Arizona. Eventually a lack of reliable help and a sewer problem in the ancient Main Street building prompted the store closure. A subsidiary of Alfa Lite, Barbara was a good sport when Lyn came up with the name “Shady Place”. This photo was in an August 1979 International Trucks magazine article on Park City, taken before we had our official sign made, but the photographer clearly appreciated the humor.
Aloha
Note: Today, the morning after Grandma passed to the next kingdom, I opened my files to post more vignettes, and this is the first writing that I opened. Even though I have placed it among the other vignettes, I think Grandma was telling me to post it here on the blog as well. Peace and love. -Sare
At some time I have written a piece about my handwriting, how in high school I decided my handwriting looked like everyone else’s. I decided to make a drastic change and created a new style for myself. I just reviewed some of my writing, and cannot locate this particular piece, but I have a sequel to it, so this is it.
In trying to organize the ephemera of my life, I came across an old high school assignment paper that is written in my original handwriting. It is dated January 28, 1935. I will include it with this little story for you to see and judge if my contrived handwriting is more interesting than the natural hand. I doubt very much if I could possibly return to the original. It was only a few weeks after writing this report that my new handwriting appeared.
The theme is entitled, “Report on ‘Thanatopsis’ by William Cullen Bryan. ” On reading it I am struck by the fact that my comments reveal thoughts that are only stronger now than then. I wrote: “The theme of the poem is that death is an eternal sleep, and that one should so live that he may enjoy it as a well earned rest.”
I don’t want to “Rest in Peace” for a long time. My view of heaven is a time of relief from mundane earthly cares; a glad reunion with loved ones who were part of my earthly existence; the opportunity to meet those who died before I lived; the ultimate joy of experiencing the love and comfort of the Savior. The great privilege of being counted worthy to serve with my eternal companion in doing the work of the Lord in teaching the spirits who have died without an understanding of the Gospel, is a “job” I hope to be given.
I won’t have a marimba to play beautiful music. Perhaps my ‘heavenly voice’ will be equal to joining in celestial choirs. There will be no need to create beautiful lamps and lampshades. My cooking skills and love of original recipes will not likely be called for. All the books will be left behind. All the photographic equipment and its products will not be necessary there. A crochet hook and yarn will not be part of my life. The paintings and art works in my home will stay here somewhere. No T V, radio, computers as we know them, no washing machines, no cars to maintain, no need for trips to the grocery store will consume my time and energy.
I suppose even heavenly spirits require rest of some kind, but eternal rest is not my idea of heaven. I hope and pray to be worthy to be an active agent to carry on the Lord’s work. I want to be an eager participant in His holy cause, and with Wiff serve in whatever capacity I am needed.
I love all of you, my dearest ones. Do not grieve when I go. I’ll be there with open arms when we meet again.
A Little Shop Talk
In 2003 Alfa Lite closed its doors for the last time. The Salt Lake Tribune covered the closing. You can read the article here.
A Thoughtful Long Distance Grandmother
One of my favorite memories of Barbara as a grandmother is that after we moved our young family to California, Barbara still found a way to read to her grandchildren by recording herself reading children’s books and then sending the books and recordings to us. I loved setting up the recorder and watching our children, curled up in their crocheted blankets, turn the pages as they listened to Grandma Bobbe read stories to them. She found a way to make us feel close to her and make sure they remembered that Grandma Bobbe made their beautiful blankets.
-Lynell Gardner
An Adventurous Opera
And Bobbe married Wiff, they begat Gaylord who married Lynell, and they begat Sare.
Alright, fine. I haven’t updated my knowledge of begat speak in scriptures in a while (and I skipped a few siblings in there), but if you’ll excuse my irreverence, my topic made me do it. My point was, this is Sare. Hi y’all. I’ve had many adventures with Grandma, and I’m excited to share with you as well as hear yours. So I hope you don’t mind if I get this started.
One of my first memories was when she would take us out for a meal or to a movie or something for birthdays. Apparently I had become predictable, as I remember her asking me when I was still very young, “Where do you want to go for your birthday? And please do not say McDonald’s breakfast.” So I had to think of something quick.
That’s not really what I’m here to talk about though, especially since I don’t remember what I thought of. I’m here to talk about Opera, of course. I had the honor of going to many operas with Grandma, and one year, instead of our standard date to the Utah Opera Company, she asked me if I would be willing to drive her and her car up to Logan so we could attend the Utah Opera Festival production of Nabucco. Nabucco is one of Verdi’s operas made famous by it’s beloved Hebrew Slave Chorus, and she said it was on her must see list. It was an amazing piece, and they did an encore of it. The only time I’ve ever seen that done.
I learned a lot that night, not only about Verdi, but about cars and people too. Because the radiator hose sprang a leak that night. I noticed signs of trouble on the way up, but we did not want to be late, so we pushed on through. When I went to get the car afterwards, well, we cooked it quite well. I could get it started and somehow figured out what the problem was, so we hobbled to the walmart where I found some help from some fine gentlemen who helped me pick out a tool that allowed me to cut down the hose and reattach it for the purpose of getting us home. Later, I got help from another gentleman who showed me how to ease off the radiator cap so I could put more fluid in there and we got home safe and sound that night. I was pretty dang proud of myself, and Grandma said she was too. So, of course I walked around with a puffed up chest for almost three days (until the alternator on my own clunker car went out, but that is irrelevant, just evidence that the only reason I figured it out is because I had been duct taping my car together for a while by then, but, whatever, I’m taking the credit). So there is what I learned about cars. It was possibly a Guinness record for taking the longest time ever to get from Logan to Salt Lake since the invention of the combustion engine, but Grandma remained cheerful through all of it and even bought us Arctic Circle for dinner. On a side note, I never really figured out if she had a thing for Arctic Circle or if she thought I did, but history had made me look like a Mickey D’s maniac so I think it must have been her.
The more important lesson I learned that night came directly from Grandma, and predated the sink or swim course in auto mechanics. On the way to Logan, we passed a major accident on the freeway opposite the direction we were going. My disposition was to just think mean thoughts about the rubber neckers and despair that they were going to make us late to the opera. Boy what a grouch I felt like when Grandma just quietly said, “Oh, that looks awful, I hope no one got hurt.” Ever since then I have tried to put my energy into hoping the best for the people who need it, instead of getting distracted by the circus surrounding them. Which admittedly, I’m not always good at so just look over here at this amazing opera!
Great fun, great learning, and a great opera to boot. Thanks, Grandma!
Adventures with Barbara 