On September 23rd, 2021, Allison Marie Gardner passed away in her sleep from metastatic colon cancer. She was 33 years old. She was survived by her mother, Joann, father, Allen, brother, Michael, and dog, Watson. Allison was born on December 16th, 1987 and grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She was an Electroneurodiagnostic Technologist at Oregon Health & Science University and was known to spend as much time outdoors as possible.
Allison had a zest for life and a great love for adventure and travel. She spent a large portion of her time post-diagnosis traveling across Europe and within the US with her rescue pup, Watson. Allison enjoyed hiking, backpacking, and paddle boarding in her free time between appointments. She was often telling family and friends to be the right amount of irresponsible-meaning to save for retirement but also to enjoy adventures now as we have no guarantees in life.
As Bertrand Russell once said, “To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead”. Allison lived a life filled with love and would often seek out volunteer opportunities to serve her community. She was a Big Sister with the Big Brothers Big Sisters program and was always ready to join a trail clean up in the gorge or raise money for Planned Parenthood. Allison was well-known within her community for always saying “yes” to new experiences and could always persuade others to join her in appreciating the vast beauty of the world.
For Allison, we ask that you “get outside” and experience the shades, tones, & variations that life has to offer.
