Troy - Freda A. Gardner, daughter of Fred E. and Catherine Foster Gardner, died May 9 th 2020 at Eddy Memorial Geriatric Center in Troy, NY.
Born in 1929 she went to Troy High School and then to SUNY Plattsburgh. She taught for 4 years in Red Hook and Lansingburgh and then went to Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, VA. She then became the Director of Christian Education at the Crescent Ave. Presbyterian Church in Plainfield, NJ. In 1961 she joined the faculty of Princeton Theological Seminary from which she retired as the Thomas W. Synnott Professor of Christian Education Emerita. F1 A ThD. Degree had been awarded honoris causa by Bloomfield College. She was a 43 year member of the Nassau Presbyterian Church in Princeton where she was ordained an Elder and active in many parts of the church’s ministry. In 1999 she was elected Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and traveled extensively in this country and abroad for the church. In her retirement she was a frequent speaker, worship leader and preacher in conferences and congregations across the church. Among other church-wide responsibilities she was a member of the Board of Church Relations at Warren Wilson Collee in Asheville, NC, a member of the Jarvie Commonweal Service, a representative of the denomination on the Ministry Committee of Churches Uniting in Christ and co-chaired the denominational dialogue between the Presbyterian and Episcopal churches. When she moved back to the Capital District she became a member of First Presbyterian Church in Albany where she served on the Session and several committees.
In addition to her parents she was predeceased by her brother, James Gardner; two brothers-in-law, Gordon Bentley and Jules Multunas and her niece Janice Bentley. She is survived by her sister, Dorothy Multunas; a niece, Cathey Murphy and a nephew, William Gardner, both of Portland, OR, and a cousin, Lawrence Mickel of Coventry, CT. She also leaves a granddaughter, Elizabeth Wall, of Willow Grove, PA, for whom Freda became an adopted grandmother.
A memorial service will be held at First Presbyterian Church, 362 State Street, Albany, NY at a date to be determined.
Memorial gifts to charities of your choice will be welcome.
Interment will be in Cemetery of the Evergreens New Lebanon.
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