THOMAS GARDNER

Thomas Gardner passed away June 1, 2018. Tom was born in Green Bay, WI on June 8, 1926 to Alfred and Christine (Geyer) Gardner. He spent a happy childhood in Appleton, WI. The family moved to Canada in 1941 where Tom attended the Port Arthur Collegiate Inst. for two years. His dreams of sailing were fulfilled with a deckhand's berth on the famous Great Lakes steamship Noronic through the 1942 shipping season, and on iron ore boats out of Duluth in the 1943 season. In the fall of 1943, he entered Duluth Central High School to complete his undergraduate schooling. Tom then returned to Port Arthur and joined the Royal Canadian Navy and served at sea on the corvette HMCS Forest Hill, on convoy duty in the North Atlantic, 1944-45.

In the spring of 1946, he entered Oregon State College for mechanical engineering. That fall, his love Dorothy came out from Fort William, Canada, to marry him. Tom received a BS degree in mechanical engineering in 1949. They returned to Iroquois Falls, Ontario, where he worked for Abitibi Power & Paper Co. for four years. His first three children were born there. In 1953, they moved to Neenah, WI where Tom served as a senior engineer at American Can Co. for ten years. He founded Gardner Systems Corp in 1967 to supply consulting and manufacturing services. Working with Overly Inc. of Neenah, he patented and built Gardner High Velocity dryers for faster drying of paper coatings, Yankee tissue paper, and magazine printing inks. He also patented pocket ventilators for faster, uniform drying of newsprint paper in paper machine dryer sections. In 1980 he invented a new type of steam control for paper machine dryer sections that greatly reduced steam and the cost of paper production. Gardner steam systems are currently built by Gardner Systems Corp, Appleton, WI and Gardner Systems Shanghai Ltd, in China. For his contributions to the paper industry, he was inducted into the International Papermakers Hall of Fame on October 6, 2016.

Retiring in 2011, he continued his hobbies of hunting, skeet shooting, swimming and piano.

Tom was preceded in death by his wife of 60 years, Dorothy; brother, Robert; and sister, Janet. He is survived by his sisters: Jean and Beth; sons: Paul, Brett (Carolyn), Kris, and Bill (Joanne); daughters: Linda Gardner and Mary Beth (Robert) Haugen; ten grandchildren; and three great grandchildren; his partner of 13 years, Mary Nebel; and his little buddy, Trekker.

A celebration of life ceremony will be held at Tom Gardner's home on Saturday June 16th from 1:00 to 4:00 pm.

Any donations should be made to the charity of your choice in Tom Gardner's name.