John Reed Gardner
October 13, 1925 ~ February 3, 2023
My dad loved dogs. The only time I heard him cry, was when he called me at work to
ask my permission before, putting down our family dog Bandit. He enjoyed sports cars and
eventually traded in a Mercedes 300SL for a Corvair station wagon. He owned a single engine
Comanche plane, but when we almost crashed coming back from a business trip to Tulsa OK,
he sold that.
When I was in my mid-thirties, I went through a bad bought of depression. I was newly
divorced, working a dead-end job and was back living with my parents. It came to a head when
in the middle of the night, I tried to swim across a lake and almost drowned. At my wits end I
walked into my dad’s bedroom one night and confessed that I was really feeling depressed. He
put down the book he was reading and gave me this advice. “I’ve been through a couple of
those deals, remember none of us are getting out of this life alive, so don’t take this life too
seriously.” He picked back up his book and I had a new perspective.
When my dad officially retired from work a few days before his passing, he had worked
for the family insurance business for 81 years, starting as the office boy and finishing up as
President of the Gardner Agency. It also marked 81 years as a member of Lakewood Country
Club, where he went from being a kid running the hallways in his knickers in the 1930’s, to
being elected to President of the Club in in the early ‘70’s.
I moved in with my dad three months ago, to become his full time his care giver. He had
to go on hospice, get a wheelchair and use a walker, but he still enjoyed life. He had to choke
down pills, deal with sores and endure enemas, but he still enjoyed the Broncos, golf on TV and
the thought that CU football would be back under coach Prime.
When the end was close at hand, my dad’s hospice nurse April, whom he had a ninety-
year old’s crush on, arrived at his bedside and with the help of his grandson and myself, he was
called to the tee box on a wholly new course. Shortly after his passing, coincidently, two military
jets flew over our house, in the ultimate fly-over, bringing a smile to my son and I.
On the day my dad passed, John Rizzi, President of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame
dropped off a booklet of Letters of Appreciation from the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame Board. I’m
sorry, my dad didn’t get a chance to read all of the nice words written about him, but after
reading those words myself, I have a better idea of the of man, I’d like to be over my final
years.
Scott N. Gardner
P.S. Thank you Mary Jo Halfen, for being there for my dad!
Golf Achievements
John Gardner was born in 1925 in Denver. He graduated from East High School in 1943 and
attended the University of Colorado, Montana State University, and graduated from the
University of Denver. John played on the golf teams at East, CU and DU. At DU he was a
teammate of Colorado Golf Hall of Famers Ted Hart and Paul McMullen and was coached by Hall
of Famer Babe Lind.
While John has always been an excellent player, it is his many other contributions to golf that
will be remembered. He has spent countless hours volunteering his time toward the betterment
of the game. John became a committeeman for the CGA in 1970 and was elected to the Board
of Governors in 1980. In 1990 John was elected CGA president and served through 1991. He
has been a member of the USGA’s Green Section Committee since 1983. John has served as a
director on the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame Board since 1985 and was president in 1988, ’89 and
’90. He has played an important role in all of these organizations and events: The Colorado
World of Golf, Colorado Seniors Golfers Association, Eisenhower-Evans Scholarship Selection
Committee, World Senior Golf Association, The International, Pacific Coast Amateur
Championship, the 1978 U.S. Open, the 1985 PGA Championship, the Schrepferman Team
Matches, and the Runyan Cup Team Matches.
In 2008, the United States Golf Association presented John with the Isaac Grainger Trophy,
recognizing more than 25 years of continuous service to the USGA.
Surviving Family Members: Daughters, Becky Fawns, Gay Gardner Underbrink, Son, Scott Gardner
Grandchildren, Amanda Walter, Rick Walker, David Walker, Aaron Gardner
Significant Other: Mary Jo Halfen
Services to Follow:
Celebration of Life at Lakewood Country Club
May 23rd from 2-4PM
RSVP to b.fawns@aol.com by May, 1
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I didn't know John personally but my good friend, Katie Rodgers Dvorak, talked about John so much that I felt like I knew him. She has many stories to share as well as his funny jokes that he was still sending in the last year he was alive. He was obviously an awesome guy!