Madeline Harrell Gardner

Margaret Madeline Harrell Gardner was born on April 14, 1927 in the St. Lewis community near Pinetops, NC. Her parents were Mary Elizabeth Cummings Harrell and Ernest Guy Harrell. Her siblings were Albert Harvey Harrell and Ora Mae Harrell Owens. 

The family farm was their source of livelihood and a piece of it became home to her when she married David Jasper Gardner in 1947. Happily she became the homemaker and mother to three children, Velda Lynn, Ramona Dale, and David J. Gardner, Jr. 

Her life was filled with caring for her family, gardening, church activities and visiting neighbors and home bound friends and family! She faithfully attended school activities with her children and dutifully cared for her parents in their later years.

She was a faithful member of Pinetops Baptist Church from her young adulthood years and all throughout her married life. In the love of her Lord Jesus she served in Sunday School, missions organizations for children and adults including GA’s and WMU, sang in the choir, and alongside her husband David, led in Senior Citizens ministry, and helped with the Meals on Wheels food delivery.

When David passed away in 2013 they had been married for 65 years. She maintained the family home until 2019 when she entered long term care at Edgecombe Health Center in Tarboro where she lived until her sudden passing on April 13, 2023, one day short of her 96th birthday. 

She is survived by her children Velda and husband John Williford, in Rocky Mount, NC, Mona and husband Wallace Horton, in Mount Olive, NC, and David J. and wife Angela in Pinetops, NC. She is grandmother to seven and great-grandmother to fifteen. They are the families of Abigail (Williford)and Craig  Kocher, Caroline and Catherine from Richmond, Virginia; Rebecca (Williford) and John Padua, from Richmond, California; Dana (Horton) and Dave Hughling, Piper and Parker, from Shelby, NC; Tim and Kate Horton, Mary Wallace, Legare, and Asa, from Cary, NC; 
Leah (Horton)and Todd Groff, Silas, Jasper, Ransom and Ryland, from Raleigh, NC;  April (Gardner) and Brian Phillips, Anna Lauren, and Carrson, from Pinetops,NC; and Nicole (Gardner) and Jeffrey Drake, Mason and Sadie, from Pinetops, NC. Her nephew Ronnie Owens and family in Colonial Heights., Virginia; the Owens family of “Aunt Nean” and the Cummings and Gardner cousins, nieces and nephews of Aunt Madeline share in her legacy. 

The family will receive friends and family Tuesday, April 18, 2023 from 1 PM until 2 Pm at Pinetops Baptist Church with the service starting at 2 Pm. The interment will follow the service in the Pineview Cemetery, behind the church in Pinetops.

The family thanks you for your attendance and support, nursing home visits and mail. The staff and friends at EHC are recognized for their care and comfort measures through difficult days and times. Memorials may be made to Pinetops Baptist Church or the St. Lewis Ruritan Club.

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