Mrs. Virginia M. Gardner (nee:Gattung), 88, born August 22, 1918 in Granite City, Illinois, died November 9, 2006 at Eden Village Retirement Center, Glen Carbon, Illinois.

Mrs. Gardner moved to Troy in 1959 coming from Granite City, Illinois. She lived in the Twin Lakes area for over 40 years before moving to The Fountains. Mrs. Gardner helped her husband for a short time in the grocery business in Granite City before becoming a full time housewife and homemaker. She was a member of St. Jerome Catholic Church in Troy.

Mrs. Gardner is preceeded in death by her parents William and Clotilda (nee: LaRose) Gattung, her husband Upton Gardner whom she married April 20, 1939 and he passed away July 13, 1996, her brother Kenneth Gattung, her sisters Almeta Cutter, Bernice Starling and Ruth Ann Kane, and her grandson Ryan Gardner.

Mrs. Gardner is survived by her son Donald (Shirley) Gardner of Collinsville, Illinois, her daughter Mrs. Nancy (Kent) Frey of Forsyth, Illinois, her brother William (Audrey) Gattung of Collinsville, her sister Mrs. Marie Itterman of Winston Salem, North Carolina, her four grandchildren Leighann (Daniel) Vance, Michael (Jennifer) Frey, Jennifer (Jimmy) Daech, Jason (Stephanie) Gardner, and her five great-grandchildren Taylor Vance, Kyle Vance, Emma Daech, Cody Daech, and Grace Daech.

Visitation: Friends may call at the Laughlin Funeral Home after 4:00 P.M. on Friday, November 10, 2006. Scripture Service will be at 4:30 P.M. on Friday, November 10, 2006. Extended visitation will be from 8:45 a.m. to time of Service at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, November 11, 2006. Funeral Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, November 11, 2006 at St. Jerome Catholic Church, Troy, Illinois with Msgr. Virgil W. Mank V.F. officiating. Burial will be at Calvary Cemetery, Glen Carbon, Illinois.

Memorials: Family has requested memorial considerations to the Diabetes Foundation or to St. Jerome Building Fund.

Online expressions of sympathy may be made at www.laughlinfh.com.