Mrs. Nina Laura Hardin Garner, age 96, of Fayetteville, passed away on Monday, August 16, 2010.
Mrs. Garner was born on September 25, 1913, in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains in Cabool, Missouri, to the late Grover Cleveland (G.C.) Hardin and Iva Ann Weber Hardin. She was the third of ten children. After graduating from Mountain Grove High School in Mountain Grove, Missouri, where Mrs. Garner grew up, she moved to Washington, D.C., to work for the federal government.
It was here she met her husband, John Robert Garner, Jr., whom she wed in 1939. Her husband’s service in the U.S. Navy soon took them to Jacksonville, Florida, where her first child was born. They later moved to the Atlanta area, where she had two more children, and where she lived before moving to the Fayetteville area.
Mrs. Garner was an accomplished seamstress and artist. Over the years, she sewed a variety of things, including quilts, tablecloths, pillowcases, furniture covers, and most of her daughter’s clothes while she was growing up. She enjoyed painting, drawing, and decopauging, as reflected in her many works. One of her very favorite pastimes was working in her yard and garden.
But, most of all, Mrs. Garner loved her family and many friends, evidenced by the prolific photographs that cover the walls and tabletops in her home. As a stay-at-home mom, she was very involved in her children’s activities, including volunteering as a Cub Scout leader and Girl Scout leader, and in band functions, to name a few. She was also involved in the lives of her two grandchildren, and they along with two great-grandsons were the apple of her eye.
Mrs. Garner was a long-time member of Fayetteville First United Methodist Church. She is preceded in death by her husband.
She is survived by her sons, John R. Garner, III of Fernandina Beach, Florida, and Richard Garner of Taos, New Mexico; her daughter, Ann Garner of Stone Mountain, Georgia; grandson, Robert Garner of Houston, Texas; granddaughter, Gail Garner of Atlanta, GA; great-grandsons Christian Garner and Preston Garner of Roswell, Georgia; three brothers and three sisters; and a host of nieces and nephews as well as other relatives and friends.
A funeral service will be held on Friday, August 20, 2010, at 11:00 AM in the Chapel at Carl J. Mowell & Son Funeral Homes, 180 N. Jeff Davis Drive, Fayetteville, with Reverend Bob Partridge officiating. Interment will follow at Cedar Hill Cemetery in Cochran, Georgia. Family will receive friends at the funeral home on Thursday, August 19, from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to either Mary Martha Circle, Fayetteville First United Methodist Church or Forgotten Animals Rescue, Inc.
Carl J. Mowell & Son Funeral Home – www.mowellfuneralhome.com
