Mary Esther McPheeters, 95, wife of the late Robert “Bob” C. Gardner of Foxwood Springs Community in Raymore, Missouri, died June 7, 2021 at Foxwood Springs. Born August 31, 1925 in Champaign, Illinois, she was the daughter of the late Oliver and Ellen McPheeters.
Mary attended Urbana High School and started classes at the University of Illinois in Urbana before marrying her Navy pen pal on August 24, 1946. After a slight detour to NYC where Bob studied television technology, they settled in Oak Park, Illinois, moved to Duluth, Minnesota 6 years later, to Peoria, Illinois 6 years after that, to St. Charles, Missouri, then to Chapin, South Carolina, where she was very active in the community theater, and finally came back to Foxwood Springs in Raymore. Along the way Mary worked as a church secretary, a college mailroom supervisor, a high school secretary, in the mortgage department of a bank, and, of course, a mom.
After moving to Foxwood, Mary was an active volunteer, participating in the Foxwood reader’s theater, Foxwood choir, St. Paul Methodist choir, mentoring elementary students, and working at the Thrift Store at Foxwood.
She is survived by daughter E J DiGiorgio of Overland Park, KS and son David and his wife Lourdes of St. Louis, MO, a grandson, Gabriel DiGiorgio of Shawnee, KS, and two granddaughters, Ann Brown of Medford, MA and Kristina Gardner of Wilmington, IL. She is also survived by 8 great-grandchildren.
In addition to her husband Robert, she was preceded in death by her two sisters Grace Fiedler and Martha Barney.
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