Yvonne M. Gardner's Obituary
Yvonne M. Gardner (nee Ducharme), age 84, of Cleveland, passed away on June 24, 2016. She is preceded in death by her husband Charles “Rolly” Gardner.
As a young married woman, her likes and hobbies included having her younger brother, Frank, over her house on weekends, sometimes weeks on end during his summer vacations from grade school. Frank enjoyed hanging out with Yvonne “Toots” and her husband “Rolly”. After Toots and Rolly bought their first home, she started gardening along with camping and fishing. During this time, she also began sewing.
As Frank got older, his interests changed and his sleepovers began to slow down. But Toots and Rolly continued with their yard work, camping, fishing, sewing, book reading, etc. Frank’s children were now enjoying spending time at their home.
In Toots’ later years, after losing Rolly, her new interests went to traveling, mostly to Cozumel, and other vacation spots in the Caribbean with her friends and family. However, in her senior years, she had to scale back a bit on the traveling due to health issues, but she continued with gardening, sewing, reading, cross word puzzles and occasionally games on her computer as long as “the darn computer worked”. As time went on and her health continued to decline, she still loved her garden, flowers and bird watching.
She was a part of Frank’s life for his entire 67 years, good times and bad. He will truly miss his sister, Toots.
Loving sister to Francis “Frank” Johnson, John A. Johnson and the late Ronnie C. Johnson; cherished aunt to Kimberly (Rob) Johnson Lovicz, Karrie (Joe) Piletic and Francis Jr. (Cindy) Johnson; dear great-aunt to Samantha Piletic, Camryn Johnson and Zachary Johnson; and friend.
Services will be private. Family suggests making a donation to a charity of choice in Yvonne’s memory.
What’s your fondest memory of Yvonne?
What’s a lesson you learned from Yvonne?
Share a story where Yvonne's kindness touched your heart.
Describe a day with Yvonne you’ll never forget.
How did Yvonne make you smile?