ST. GEORGE — A St. George woman who recently celebrated turning 104 recounted how staying busy in life helped guide her through major world events.
Lenore Gardner, a resident at Spring Gardens Assisted Living, recalled hard work throughout her life as she served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints during World War II.
“I’ve had a good life,” Garnder said. “I was just busy all the time helping on the farm and working at the church.”
Gardner was born in 1919, a year that saw the following historical events:
- The Treaty of Versailles was signed, thus ending World War I.
- Dial telephones were introduced by the American Telephone and Telegraph Co. (later known as AT&T).
- Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity was confirmed when the Royal Astronomical Society saw the predicted effect during a solar eclipse.
- The Spanish flu epidemic killed 675,000 Americans.
- The infamous “Black Sox Scandal” rocked Major League Baseball when eight members of the Chicago White Sox were banned for life for throwing the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds.
She was born in Bear Lake, Idaho, and shortly after moved to Nampa, Idaho, where she was raised.
From a young age, she recalled being active in her church. She helped her parents while growing up on a farm and was later called out of the country for her church mission.
“I was on my mission when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor,” said Gardner, who was serving in Eastern Canada with her companion and remembered the day of the attack.
She was outside knocking on doors when another group of missionaries arrived and told them they needed to go back home and stay there until their supervisor gave them further instructions. She was able to stay in Canada and finish her mission but remembered that many missionaries were sent home.
“It hasn’t been quite the same since then and probably never will be,” Gardener said. “The war changed a lot of things.”
When she returned from her mission, she married and eventually moved to St. George. She kept busy helping at a dress shop, raising two kids, working on her family farm and serving in church callings.
Gardner loves music and continues to spend time playing the organ that is in her room. She was able to sing during the Latter-day Saint General Conference on five separate occasions.
“I learned to work hard and that’s the best thing you can do,” Gardner said. “Just keep busy and find things to do that are worth doing … don’t spend time doing things that aren’t that important.”
Spring Gardens Assisted living hosted a party for Gardner’s 104th birthday on March 18.
Residents, friends and family came together to celebrate the occasion with cake, music, and a wall of photos from Gardner’s long and happy life.
Gardner told St. George News she was excited for her next birthday and couldn’t believe she had made it to 104 years old.
“They’re just not ready for me, so I don’t have a place to go — I have to stay here on Earth,” Gardner said.
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