Brian "Corky" More Gardner

Stories of Corky’s youth present him as a Tom Sawyer-like figure adventuring and mis-adventuring in the wetlands of Nisqually, where his father owned a local store and enjoyed the fame of a local baseball legend. Corky would allow a slight, impish gleam to shine in his eyes when he would half-reluctantly share these stories at the pressing of his grandkids, though he surely withheld some of the best.

Corky attended Roosevelt High School in Seattle and graduated from Augusta Military Academy in Fort Defiance, VA. There he met and wooed his future wife, Eleanor Lee Yeakley of Staunton, Virginia. He is rumored to have been “quite handsome” in that uniform and “a good dancer,” which may have had something to do with Lee’s “yes” to his later proposal.

He studied engineering at the University of Washington and was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity, as was his father before him.

He then worked for the Boeing Company for 32 years as a Jet Propulsion Engineer, making engines faster, more-reliable and better attached to the giant hulks of metal that they push through the skies.

During his tenure at Boeing Corky and Lee moved to Bellevue, raised their three children, Cyndi, Debbie and Brian, and saw their first grandkids.

At 55 years young Corky retired and diligently took up the craft of repair and refurbishment of antique clocks. He and Lee joined The National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors and served in many capacities. In retirement they also enjoyed traveling the world, especially the learning that came with the adventures.

Corky was always a technophile; he loved researching and having the most innovative gadgets, which flowed from the windings of a sharp mind practiced in a career of engineering and innovation. He loved scientific thought and discovery and displayed an awe at the world and its ever-greater possibilities.

Corky was a great wit. He didn’t do as much dancing later in life, but the ways he used words proved his rhythm and timing in spades. He was always ready to stump, as needed, with a riddle or brain-teaser. And he kept his mind sharp through daily crossword challenges and prodigious reading.

For these and so many other reasons, Corky (Dad, Granddad, Great-Granddad) is greatly missed.

Corky is survived by the love of his life Lee, daughters Cynthia Hendrickson (Steve), Debbie Gardner, and Brian Gardner Jr. (Rana); grandchildren Kyle Hendrickson (Ann), Mellena Trask (Ben), Bryson and Trent Gardner; and six great-grandchildren Daniel, Katherine, and Audrey Hendrickson and Keira, Abigail, and Ruxin Trask; sister-in-Law Mildred Angelini of Woodbridge, VA.