Gerald Tefft Gardiner

Gerald "Jerry" Tefft Gardiner, 75, of Wakefield, Rhode Island died peacefully on Tuesday, February 27th surrounded by his family.

He was born in Wakefield, RI to the late Bertrand Sr. and Carrie (Caswell) Gardiner.

In his younger years, he enjoyed fixing cars and would come to forever regret selling his 67 chevy. He was a volunteer fireman with the Peace Dale Fire Department. He also enjoyed playing softball and had many fond memories of coaching his daughters in the Narragansett Little League, where he was instrumental in building their new field house in the late 90's. Anyone who knows Jerry would testify to the fact that hunting was his true passion in life and he had many great memories with family and friends in the woods of Maine and Rhode Island.

Jerry worked as a supervisor at URI for many years and was a highly sought after house painter known for being quite meticulous and precise. He was also a very active member of the South Kingstown Elks BPOE 1899 where he served on many committees for several years and spent hundreds of hours volunteering over the course of his life, jumping in wherever and whenever there was a need. One of his greatest prides was spearheading the Elks Thanksgiving dinner. He loved seeing how much it grew over the years and always reminded his family that they went from serving 30-something meals the first year to over a thousand in recent years.

Gerald is survived by his loving, devoted wife of 43 years - Lori (Iacuele) Gardiner of Wakefield, his children - Daniel Gardiner, Meghan Gardiner, Meredith Lafontaine (Kyle), all of Wakefield. He also leaves behind a sister, Lydia Sorenson, of West Warwick and is pre-deceased by his siblings, Beverly, Bertrand Jr., Sharon, Janice, Alfred, and Loly. Lastly, he leaves behind his granddaughters Madelyn and Olivia Lafontaine, who were his pride and joy.

A celebration of life will be held at the South Kingstown Elks Lodge, 60 Belmont Ave. in South Kingstown on Sunday, March 3rd from 1pm to 4pm. In lieu of flowers donations may be made in Jerry's honor to the South Kingstown Elks 1899 for the numerous charities that they support.