Edna Beatrice Miller Gardner was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1925, but you would never know it by her ever so recognizable southern lilt. She is the eldest and only daughter of educators, Ross Matthew Miller and Beatrice Burson Miller. Her parents moved with her and her brother, Ross Jr., to East St. Louis, Illinois, in 1930, where her father became Principal of the local elementary school. They were active members of St. Paul Baptist Church, spending Sundays and most Wednesdays participating in every church club, function and message available. She and Ross were taught to honor God in everything they did, to pursue their goals with gusto and to be sure to, "Leave everything, every place and every person better for your having been there!" While her mother finished Howard University in 1916 and her father, Florida A&M and the University of Illinois, Edna was determined to chart her own course. She attended her beloved Hampton Institute in Hampton, Virginia, majoring in business education. Promptly after graduation in May 1946, she boarded a train to Birmingham, Alabama, to take a summer job at the Booker T. Washington Business College. Her plan was to stay only for the summer and make enough money to buy some new clothes and shoes when she returned home, but fate had another plan. Her new employer, Mrs. Minnie Gaston sent her brother, Thomas Gardner, to pick up the new teachers from the train station. She has been in Birmingham ever since! She and Tom married in December 1947, adding five children to their union. They became active members of Sixth Avenue Baptist Church where she attended faithfully and held many leadership positions including Deaconess and Treasurer of Northside Matrons.

Edna's teaching career began as many veterans were returning from WWII armed with the GI Bill. She took great pride and effort to prepare her students to ascend into corporate America and government employment that eluded African Americans before the war. They were eager to make a
better life and she was eager to help them. While she pushed her students to higher heights, she was also pursuing higher ground. When university doors in the South were closed to Blacks, Edna attended New York University for a summer advanced education program in 1960. As soon as the doors of the University were opened, Edna became one of the first Blacks to receive a graduate degree from the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa in 1966. She is recognized as a Pioneer of Desegregation by the University of Alabama. She also completed a post-graduate AA degree from Alabama A&M University. She remained at the Booker T. Washington Business College for twenty years, then moved to Lawson State Community College for more than twenty more. Teaching was her passion. She loved it, and she was good at it! Everywhere she went, she was embraced by students who thanked her and remembered her challenging but encouraging classes. She retired from teaching in 1989, successfully completing a 43 year teaching career. But, education was just one part of her story.

While she was helping her students, pursuing her own advanced education, and raising her children during the civil rights movement, she was actively helping her husband promote and build Smith & Gaston Funeral Services, Inc. As a wife and partner, Edna worked over 30 years alongside her husband until his death in 1993. She was often seen in her signature grey suits and many hats comforting families, often former students, during family transitions. She became a licensed funeral director in the state of Alabama and continued working alongside her sons as a most requested comforter and Funeral Directress for the company. Edna Gardner was a reliable and active participant in several local and national clubs to include being the longest serving active member of Jack and Jill of America, Inc., Birmingham Chapter; an active member of the Twentieth Century Club, one of the oldest federated clubs in Alabama; an active member of Omicron Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.; a past president of Birmingham Chapter of the Links, Inc.; member of the local, state and national Business Education Associations; Funeral Directors Associations; Retired Teachers of America and Life Member of the NAACP. She was voted "Mother of the Year" during the United Negro College Fund Gala in 1970, and was recognized as an Honored Black Family recipient by her beloved alma mater, Hampton University, in 2014, during its 36th Annual Conference on the Black Family.

No review of her life could be complete without noting that Edna Gardner was a PROLIFIC photographer. She captured and chronicled the pivotal and mundane moments of so many lives and shared them with so many. She was also an avid traveler. Throughout her many travels to Europe,
West Africa, the Caribbean, Mexico, Egypt, Israel, China, as well as throughout the U.S., she was affectionately called "Mama" or "Mama Edna"- a universal term of respect and endearment.

Edna leaves to cherish her memory: sons Thomas J. Gardner, Jr. (Terri), Dr. Ross E. Gardner (Terri), Eric A. Gardner (Sonya), Paul G. Gardner (Cheri) and daughter Lynn B. Gardner of Atlanta, GA; grandsons Thomas J. Gardner, III of California, Solomon G. Gardner of Atlanta, GA, Paul G. Gardner, Jr., William M. Gardner, Jalen D. Gardner of Atlanta, GA; granddaughters, Destinie Gardner-Stutz (Adam) of California, Autumn Gardner of California, Lindsay Gardner, Lauren Gardner; Sister-in-law Maria Miller of California; Nieces Michelle Miller Morial (Marc) of New Jersey, Cheryl B. Miller of New Jersey, Ross Matthew Miller,III (Caron) of California and Jonathan Miller of Nevada; grandnephews Mason Morial of New Jersey and Jonathan Miller, Jr. of Nevada; grandnieces Margeaux Morial of New Jersey and Amber Miller of California; and, a host of nieces, nephews and cousins. Special thanks to her devoted caregiver Ms. Bunny Lockett and the host of medical professionals and friends who provided excellent care and attention. Public viewing will begin Wednesday, September 9, 2020, from noon until 8:00 P.M., and Thursday, September 10, 2020, from 10:00 A.M. until 8:00 P.M. at Smith & Gaston Southside Chapel, 102- 6th Avenue SW, Birmingham, Al 35211. In lieu of flowers, we ask that any gifts and donations are forwarded to the Edna Miller Gardner Scholarship currently being established at Hampton University. Specific donation details forthcoming.

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