Nancy Gardner

Nancy Meredith Wotton Gardner, 81, passed away peacefully this week due to complications from the flu and dementia.

She was born in Peoria, Illinois, to Florence "Flossie" Alma Sanders and Joseph Richard Wotton, and spent happy years there, growing up alongside her four siblings, including a twin brother. Her family joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints when she was a young girl, and when she was only eighteen, Nancy accepted a call to serve as a full-time missionary for the Church in the Northern States Mission.

Nancy married her husband of nearly sixty years, David Marsh Gardner, in the Salt Lake City temple, and throughout the years, they lived in and raised their family of five children in Minnesota (St. Paul), Texas (Dallas and Houston), California (Pasadena and San Gabriel), New York (Dix Hills, Long Island), and South Dakota (Sioux Falls). They retired in Cedar Hills and St. George, Utah, and in recent years moved to Orem, Utah, to be closer to their children. David and Nancy shared a love of missionary work, and together they served full-time senior missions in Cambodia, Mongolia, Hong Kong, and Oakland, California.

Nancy was a vibrant and spirited woman with a fun-loving and exuberant personality. She dedicated much of her life to serving others and served diligently in many Church callings throughout her life - she even volunteered to teach early morning seminary, and over more than twenty years, lovingly taught the scriptures to all her own children as well as many, many others. She served as a PTA president and volunteered in her children's elementary, junior high, and senior high schools, teaching each of us to value education, respect our teachers, and appreciate the beauty of a good book. Sunny yellow was her signature color - in everything from her car to her kitchen sink. She loved music (especially Johnny Mathis and the Carpenters), art (especially James Christensen and Norman Rockwell), reading (especially Erma Bombeck and the classics), storytelling (especially the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival), cooking (especially rolls, lasagna, toffee, Chex mix, and chocolate chip cookies), celebrating Christmas (especially collecting nativities and Santas), hosting parties, starting water fights, and walking barefoot in the grass.

Nancy deeply loved the gospel of Jesus Christ and made it the center of her life. Her testimony, creativity, humor, enthusiasm, energy, and selfless spirit will be deeply missed, but her legacy of kindness and service will live on in all who knew her. She believed that death was only a "graduation from which we go on to a better life" (Gordon B. Hinckley), and we know we will be with her again.

Nancy is survived by her husband, David; five children: Joi (David) Pearson, Ben (Denise) Gardner, Paul (Mignonne) Gardner, Meredith Gardner, and Tom (Katrina) Gardner; 14 grandchildren; brother, Don Wotton; sister, Josephine "Jo" Wotton Day; and twin brother, Tom Wotton. She was preceded in death by her parents and her brother, Montell "Monty" Wotton.

A funeral service will be held on Friday, February 28, at the Orem Utah Stake Center (80 S. 280 E. in Orem), with a viewing from 9:45-10:45 am and the service at 11 am. A graveside service will follow at the Orem City Cemetery.

**Those who wish to learn more about the missionary work Nancy loved, or donate in her honor to the Church's Missionary Fund, may use this link: https://philanthropies.churchofjesuschrist.org/missionary/.

Please click on the link below or the QR code in the gallery to watch Nancy's service via live stream:

https://zoom.us/j/94146511916