Graveside Memorial Services will be held at the Winnemucca Cemetary Friday, Aug. 8, 2014 at 1 p.m. for Darlene Gardner who passed away in a Reno area hospital on July 7, 2014 when she lost her battle with COPD.
Darlene was born in Ely, Nev., Jan. 10, 1950, to Jerome and Helen Green and attended Ely schools before marrying Marvin Gardner in the Ely Episcopal Church.
She is survived by her children, Jack Gardner of Winnemucca, Halene Gardner Thacker of Fallon; grandson Dusty Thacker of Fallon; brothers Floyd and Gary Green of McGill; sisters Carolyn Mienen of Grangeville, Idaho, and Cindy Howe. She raised her niece, Karina Jackson of Broken Arrow, Okla., so she was grandma to Raquel and Rabecca Roberts of Burley, Idaho; Colby Logan and Braddyn Jackson of Broken Arrow, and great grandmother to Baylee and Brogan Sayles of Burley. She was preceded in death by her son Chad, Aug. 4, 1988; infant son Marvin Jerome; sisters Janet Allred, Bonnie Ingle; and her parents Helen and Jerome Greene.
She worked at Newmont Mining Company at Twin Creeks as a haul truck driver for many years. She previously worked for Andrew Hillyer, Buzz MacDonald, Dr. Bernard Cannon, DVM.
Operating her own cleaning business enabled her to haul horses and contestants to high school rodeos for five years. She was a huge young people rodeo advocate having presided over the Winnemucca Junior Rodeo for four years, which continued for many years after her until replaced recently with the SSIR. Coaching her own children and many others in every rodeo event was her specialty. She was an original board member of the Miss Winnemucca Rodeo in 2001, and judged numerous local pageants while coaching each contestant, too.
Her desire to make these young cowboys and cowgirls as good as they could be was her lifetime commitment. She has left her mark on the sport of rodeo in Winnemucca, Ely, and Nevada, and will be remembered for her selfless giving of her own time tirelessly.[[In-content Ad]]
