[Dialogue] Completed life of George Gardner

[LAURELCG@aol.com]

I don't know if any of you'll remember George.  He and I shared a class at 
the Univ. of Creation Spirituality in Oakland, probably in 2000.  I was so 
excited that his dissertation project was to be adapting RS-1, which he had taken 
in Chicago in the 60's, to a youth curriculum, integrated with Matthew Fox's 
four paths of creation spirituality (Vias Negative, Positiva, Creativa and 
Transformativa.)  I don't know whether or not he finished the program.  I'd be very 
interested with others' memories of him.  He let his light shine brightly.

Blessings,
Jann McGuire
 
Cancer claims life of outspoken pastor George Gardner
Posted on Fri, Oct. 22, 2004                   BY DANA STRONGIN
The Wichita Eagle

George Gardner, senior minister of Unity Church of Wichita and former United 
Methodist clergyman, died Thursday evening.

The Rev. Gardner, who was 69, had been battling cancer since his diagnosis in 
the spring, said longtime friend Diane Rush.

The Rev. Gardner had been with the Unity Church since 2002, the same year he 
resigned from the United Methodist Church after 42 years of service in 
south-central Kansas.

The Rev. Gardner was among Wichita's most outspoken liberal clergy and was an 
advocate for civil rights. He helped form the Kansas Religious Coalition for 
Reproductive Choice and performed ceremonies for same-sex couples.

Rush has kept in touch with the Rev. Gardner since they met more than 40 
years ago at a youth workshop.

"He was fresh out of seminary and ready to burn up the world" with his 
passion, she said.

Even when he was a teenager, Rush said, the Rev. Gardner showed a steadfast 
dedication to his faith.

"He didn't know what it meant to take a day off," she said. "He just 
lived for the church and for serving people, for ministering to people."

The Rev. Gardner took his interest in social activism to the airwaves with a 
radio talk show in the 1960s and 70s, Rush said. The speakers were "people on 
the cutting edge of social activism of one stripe or another," she said.

"His brand of theology was 'progressive' before that term was ever used," 
Rush said.

The Rev. Gardner also added flair to his services with surprise elements, 
such as jazz music, nationally known speakers and components from Broadway plays.

Lynda Pletcher, who met the Rev. Gardner while serving as an educator at a 
Methodist church in Winfield, will always remember him as giving her and her 
daughter "gifts of encouragement."

The Rev. Gardner helped Pletcher decide to start a new career in North 
Carolina, and he later helped her daughter, Reuellyn, develop her passion for youth 
ministries.

Survivors include the Rev. Gardner's mother, two daughters and a grandson. 
Services had not been set.