JoAnn Gardner

WILLSBORO & ROCHESTER | JoAnn Gardner passed away peacefully at the Jewish Home on Dec. 16 at the age of 90. She was predeceased by her husband, John; her son Jesse; and her brother Bob. She is survived by her children, Seth, Nell and Curdie, by nine grandchildren and one great-grandchild. She was an amazing woman, intelligent, hardworking, brave and capable. The author of seven books, she lectured widely and was a member of the Garden Writers of America. Her love of flowers and herbs and her rediscovery of her Jewish roots brought her to Israel on several incredible trips. Her last book, "Seeds of Transcendence, understanding the Hebrew Bible through plants," she researched while travelling in Israel, and wrote under duress of treatments for cancer. In addition to publishing her books, she wrote hundreds of articles, and built and maintained friendships worldwide, often without access to a telephone. While living on Cape Breton Island, she wrote her first book, "The Old Fashioned Fruit Garden," on a Remington typewriter, sending the carbon copies through the mail as her only way of communication. JoAnn grew up in a suburban neighborhood in Boston, where she dreamed of becoming a dancer and actress. She attended Bennington College in Vermont, and while her life took a different path - one shaped by marriage and motherhood - she brought the same creativity, determination, and strength to everything she did. Her tough but caring spirit carried her through all the challenges of raising a family with very little income, first on a horse-powered farm in Vermont and later, in 1971, moving to Cape Breton Island. She persevered through all the trials of life there, developing her own line of herb mixes, jams and jellies and any other products that she could make with materials at hand. Selling her farm goods at craft sales many miles away in Sydney provided much of the family's modest income. JoAnn was resourceful in every way, hosting lunches and garden tours at the farm, making the most of a land with poor soil and a harsh climate. Besides writing, growing and selling herbs, she cut wood with a crosscut saw, spread manure with a pitch fork, butchered pigs and chickens, made cheese and butter, preserved vegetables and fruit, pitched hay, scrubbed laundry on a scrub board, made soap, and performed countless other demanding chores. What was perhaps most remarkable about JoAnn was her unwavering kindness through all her hardships. She always found something kind to say and listened attentively to all who needed her ear. For those who had the privilege of knowing and loving her, she will be deeply missed. She remained a light always despite her battle with cancer and her sometimes difficult and tumultuous life. Her kind and gentle spirit will live on through all that had the pleasure of knowing her. May her life be as a blessing. There was a graveside service at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025, at the New Burt Cemetery in Essex, N.Y., with lunch immediately following at the Halfway House in Elizabethtown. Donations can be made to the Jewish Home of Rochester, N.Y., the Wellness Program of the IWMF Waldenstrom Foundation. Services were entrusted to Heidrick Funeral Home, PO Box 188, Elizabethtown, NY 12932.

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