Dr. Frances Del Gardner

Frances Shaw Gardner was born on February 15, 1932 to James Henry Shaw and Mary Menzies Shaw in Dyersburg, Tennessee where her family attended Grace Presbyterian Church. Church was a major focus in her life. As a youth, Frances taught Sunday School and served as the pianist for the youth choir. As a high school senior, at Bruce High School in Dyersburg, Tennessee, the Principal encouraged Frances to apply to Tennessee State University to pursue a career in Rehabilitation. She received a high school diploma in 1950 and was accepted at Tennessee State University in Nashville, Tennessee where she majored in Elementary Education and participated in numerous campus organizations. Frances was elected to “Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities in 1952. She graduated, magna cum laude, from Tennessee State University in December, 1953. Immediately after receiving her baccalaureate degree, France was employed by the Nashville City School District as an elementary teacher. Because of her outstanding performance in the classroom, she was often selected to provide workshops for teachers in reading and music. As an advocate for black teachers, Frances was instrumental in the first release of Teachers’ Editions of textbooks after the desegregation of public schools in Tennessee resulting in the 1954 Supreme Court decision of Brown vs. Board of Education. After discovering the Teachers’ Editions in a recently vacated white school, Frances wrote to all the textbook publishers requesting copies of the Teacher’s Editions for her classes. The publishers responded by informing her that the Teacher’s Editions had already been provided to the school district. Frances then complained to the Black Supervisor of the school district who insisted on the release of the Teacher’s Edition to all the black schools. Frances married William Gardner in 1957. They were blessed with two sons, William T. and Ernest Patrick. In 1960, the Gardner family relocated to Detroit Michigan and became members of St. Mark’s United Presbyterian Church, which later became Hope Presbyterian Church. In 2002, Frances became a member of Calvary Presbyterian Church. She and her deceased husband had been Elder clergy of Presbyterian Church for over 40 years. Frances was employed with the Detroit Public Schools from 1960 to 1989, when she retired as Principal of the Bethune School only leaving Detroit for a few years to serve as an assistant professor of Education at Austin Pea State University in Clarksville, Tennessee. She received both her Ed.M. in 1959, and later, received a Ph.D. at Wayne State University. Frances was a member of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Michigan reading Association, International Reading Association, Pi Delta Kappa, National Association of Black School Educators and the Wayne State University Education Alumni Association Board of Governors. Community involvement included serving as President of Alpha Rho Omega Chapter, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. from 1981-1983. She was a member of the Board of Directors for Friends of the Brazeal Dennard Chorale, co- chaired Center on Black Aging, Inc. Conference at the White House, was appointed by Congressman John Conyers to the White House Conference on Aging, and Mayor Coleman A. Young appointed her to the Board of Directors of the Detroit Area Agency on Aging in 1982. Frances was a recipient of the Spirit of Detroit Award in 1992, a Distinguished Service Award from the Wayne county Executive in 1985 and the 1982 Edition of Who’s Who in the Midwest. In 2008, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. featured her as a Newsmaker in the Eighties, a traveling exhibit, commemorating the organization’s 100th anniversary. It was not all work and no play. Frances also enjoyed a “snappy game of bridge” with the Thursday Lunch Brunch and Fair Ladies bridge clubs. Frances Shaw Gardner passed away on November 14, 2020. Her husband, William, and son, Ernest, sister, Mary Lee (James), and her brother, Bishop Melvin Shaw (Mary) of Dyersburg, Tennessee preceded her in death. She is survived by her son William, and his wife, Derryl; her grandson, Ernest Gardner II, her granddaughter, Tonjeanine Richardson, great-granddaughter, Allyssa Richardson, nieces, Iris Gardner and Carol Gardner of Paris, Tennessee; goddaughters Dr. Jannelle Martin and Jordan White of Lilburn, Georgia, along with a host of other relatives and friends.

Dr. Frances Del Gardner

February 15, 1932 - November 14, 2020