CUSHING – Norma M. Gardner passed away peacefully May 6, 2010, at Penobscot Bay Medical Center. She was born Sept. 9, 1926, on Verona Island, the third of eight children to the late Clifton and Margaret Bridges Bates. Her early years were spent on Verona Island and in Hillside, Mich. In 1951 she married Richard Gardner in Cleveland and initiated an employment tour from Ohio to Connecticut to Florida, back to Connecticut and finally a retirement move back to Maine. Norma supplemented her life with many activities. As the children grew she became active in real estate sales and property management, and established her own ladies apparel store called Cynthia’s Fashions. She also served as town clerk of Cushing for 12 years. The quality and quantity of her artistic handwork has been noted locally. In later years she produced quilts, oil paintings and needle point in her spare time. She is survived by her husband, Richard of Cushing; two children, Cynthia Gardner of Norwalk, Conn., and Robert Gardner of Haddam, Conn.; three sisters, Nadine Folsom of Ellsworth, Joanne Crocker of Las Vegas and Gloria Junkin of Bossier City, La.; and two grandchildren, Richard D. Gardner of Haddam, Conn., and Ashley E. Gardner of Haddam, Conn. A memorial service will be held 10 a.m. Saturday, May 15, at Broad Cove Church, Cushing.
NORMA M. GARDNER
