Person Page - 608

Katharine Sewall Stebbins Gardner, 94, Davis, Calif., formerly of 202 Paddock St., died Sept. 9 in a Davis residential care home.
Born July 9, 1904, in Watertown, she was a daughter of William Cooper and Grace Foster Sewall Stebbins. Her father was an owner of W. C. Stebbins Co., a paper mill supply firm. He later was vice president of the Agricultural Insurance Co. until his death in 1923.
Her mother, who died in 1919, was related to Jabez Foster, one of the founders of Watertown.
Mrs. Gardner attended Miss Hall's School in Pittsfield, Mass., and received a bachelor of arts degree from Smith College, Northampton, Mass., in 1926.
She married Dr. Murray MacGregor Gardner on May 18, 1937, at the home of her brother and sister-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. G. Reginald Stebbins, 151 Mullin St.
Dr. Gardner, a prominent local surgeon and chief of staff at the House of the Good Samaritan for many years, died Oct. 16, 1957, at age 70.
Mrs. Gardner was elected to the board of directors of the Watertown Visiting Nurses Association in May 1940.
She began her long volunteer service with the Jefferson County Red Cross chapter in 1941 with the chapter's motor corps service. When the Canadian Red Cross began overseeing bloodmobiles in Watertown in 1942, Mrs. Gardner became a volunteer day chairman, continuing in that capacity until September 1945.
In June 1949, the Syracuse Regional Red Cross Blood Center began its bloodmobiles in Watertown. Mrs. Gardner became a volunteer day chairman for bloodmobiles here. She was chairman of volunteer staff coverage for the regional blood visits to Watertown from the late 1950s until 1992.
In May 1965, Mrs. Gardner, along with Mrs. Edward F. Wright, was co-recipient of the first David C. Knowlton blood program volunteer of the year award. She also was cited by the national American Red Cross for distinguished service to the blood program.
From 1949 to 1992 she oversaw the keeping of local chapter records of bloodmobile donations. She also was an officer in Northern Blood Bank District 4 of the Syracuse regional program. She was named to the board of directors of the county Red Cross chapter in February 1965 and served for several years.
Mrs. Gardner continued her more than 50 years of service with the local Red Cross chapter, now the Black River Valley Chapter, into the 1990s. In 1988, she received the George C. Cox Memorial Award as outstanding chapter volunteer.
In 1993, the Katharine Gardner Chapter Service Award was established to honor outstanding volunteers.
Mrs. Gardner was a member of the auxiliary to the Jefferson County Medical Society and was an avid golfer. She also was active in the House of the Good Samaritan Auxiliary.
She travelled in Europe on numerous occasions.
Mrs. Gardner had lived in Davis, Calif., for the past four years near her son, John M. Gardner.
Surviving besides her son are a stepdaughter, Helen "Polly" Gardner Herzer, Sun City, Ariz; a stepson, Dr. Murray H. Gardner, also of Sun City; two grandchildren; six stepgrandchildren, a nephew and two nieces.
Her brother, Reginald Stebbins, died in 1950 and her sister, Elisabeth Stebbins Taylor, died in 1991.⁴