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Obituary: Valentina E. Gardner

Fri, Mar 9th 2018 08:40 pm
Valentina E. Gardner, age 96, a former longtime resident of Grand Island, passed away at home on Breckenridge Avenue on Monday, March 5, 2018. She was born on Jan. 30, 1922, in Harbin Manchuria, China, to Evan and Vera Georgieva Scholokoff.
Valentina went to a school in Japan that was run by both English and French nuns. She met her future husband, Henry Gardner, who was in the U.S. Army and landed in Yokohama, Japan, where they married on Nov. 24, 1946. Upon returning to the United States they settled in Grand Island and together they owned the Island Disposal Service. When they sold the business, Henry became a heavy equipment operator for the Town of Grand Island and Valentina went to work for Kenmore Mercy Hospital. When they retired, they moved to Wellsville.
Valentina was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 2530 Ladies Auxiliary, American Legion Post No. 702 Ladies Auxiliary, and T.O.P.S. No. 39, all of Wellsville. Valentina loved to fish and to paint.
She is survived by a son, John (Dorothy) Gardner of Grand Island; two daughters: Suzanna (Fred) Hoefler of Lawrenceville, Georgia, and Vera Gardner of Ulysses, Pennsylvania; five grandchildren; five great-grandchildren.
She was predeceased by her parents and her husband of 64 years.
Friends are invited to call on Monday, March 12, from noon to 2 p.m. in the J.W. Embser Sons Funeral Home of Wellsville. A service will be held at 2 p.m. in the funeral home following visitation with burial in Sacred Heart Cemetery. Memorials in Valentina's name may be made to the VFW Post No. 2530 Auxiliary, or to the American Legion Post No. 702 Auxiliary, or to the Wellsville Volunteer Ambulance Corps.
To leave online condolences, visit www.embserfuneralhome.com.

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