OBITUARY

Kathryn Gardner, a Corona del Mar resident and co-founder of the

Junior Assistance League, died of a massive heart attack in her home

Wednesday. She was 80.

Gardner was the wife of Robert Gardner, a former judge and Daily Pilot

columnist. The couple has been married for more than 60 years.

“It’s a shock, and it was very sudden,” Robert Gardner said.

He remembered he was sitting in a bar when he first saw Kathryn walk

by.

“I saw myself looking at the best pair of legs I’ve ever seen,” he

said. “I followed them, and we got married six months later.”

He described his wife as a “very happy and outgoing person.

“She had a zillion friends and no enemies,” he said. She was a

full-time homemaker who devoted her life to her family and her community.

Gardner worked several projects trying to raise money for charity, he

said.

“She would even go door to door sometimes,” he said.

Gardner is also survived by one daughter, two grandchildren and three

great-grandchildren.