News
Kathy Gardener HELPS KEEP MEMORIES OF LOVED ONES ALIVE
Corrinne Kellogg
Chronicle Staff Write
Thanks to Kathy Gardener, keeping a loved one's grave site free of snow during the winter month is easier because of her grave blankets. A grave blanket is a decorative blanket anchored into the ground over the grave keeping snow off the grave during the winter months.
Kathy Gardener, owner of Warm Gestures, LLC. has shipped grave blankets to over 25 states in the United States. What is unique about grave blankets, said Gardener, are that they are individualized. The person purchasing the grave blanket can personalize the blankets by adding ornaments, letters, toys, or anything that reminds them of their loved one.
"Anybody's hobby can fit it." Gardener said, Everyone can personalize them. This is their healing process. Everybody's different." One woman bought a bowling pin for her daughter because she like to bowl. Gardener once put a drum on one grave blanket sent to Texas for Christmas time. The mother was surprised by it, when she got it because coincidently she had called her son her little drummer boy.
The grave blankets can serve for many holidays including Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines Day, anniversaries and birthdays. Gardener has helped people in Calhoun County and Ingham Counties install the grave blankets and other counties.
"Personal service is hard to come by these days," she said. "My heart is in my business."
The most popular grave blankets are the poinsettias, followed by the powdered blue grave blankets, which are made using Scotch pine,. "I'm highly motivated." Gardener said. "My heart is in my work, and I have the love and passion for it, and it shows."
Gardener has been making grave blankets for the past 25 years. She began making them for her loved ones and friends. When people began asking if she could make them one, she got the idea to start a business.
"It inspired me," Gardener said. "It told me there was a need out there. It's all because of word of mouth."
My heart tells me to." You cant take on the whole world, but even one can make a difference."
She said the grave blanket to the mother of the little girl was the only flowers the family received. The woman later sent her a card and thanked Gardener for her generosity saying, "thank you for keeping my daughter warm all winter." The woman bought one for the next year.
Gardener said she helps people whenever she can.
Gardener makes grave blankets for her three daughters Rachael, Cassandra and Gabrielle who passed away. "Each one of us have our own personal stories." she said. "That pain goes way, and we cling onto memories." "When you lose a child, you feel like a part of you goes with them," Gardener said. "As much as you've moved on with your life, when that anniversary comes around, it comes around."
She also makes grave blankets for her late husband Jim, her mother Patricia, and her father Elmer. Her mother will get a red rose grave blanket and her husband and father will have veterans grave blankets.
In remembrance of her loved ones, on the anniversary of their death she donates to a cause. For her mother, she gives blood, her daughters she donates to a children’s hospital, and for her late husband and father she donates to the Veterans Administration. "Each anniversary is their day, " she said. "I give to a cause in memory of them." Gardener warned that people should be careful what they say to someone who has lost a loved one.
"My customers open up and tell me of a loved one. I open up and listen. I'm there to hear their loss. It's more than just making a grave blanket. I'm going to be there for them."
Gardener believes because she knows how it feels to lose a loved one, listening can help mourners through tough times. "I don’t believe I start the healing process," she said. "Just knowing I can bring comfort to these families is what matters to me."
"William Straight, a friend of Gardener, has been buying grave blankets from her for the past 16 years. "I like them," he said. "They look nice."
He buys one for his mother every year. "It is stuff my mother would have like," he said. "I buy them for the comfort of knowing my mom would like them."
Straight said they comfort both his mother and himself. "Just knowing they are on the grave, that somebody is thinking of you, is nice." Straight said. "Some people believe you can't talk to the dead, but it brings comfort to talk to them."
Straight said he hopes he will get the same courtesy when he passes.
All grave blankets are $50.
Cemeteries have different regulations on the grave blankets, but most of them allow them from Nov.1 until March 1.
Battle Creek Shopper
Woman creates blankets to comfort the bereaved
Piercing Glances by Cheryl Pierce
November 8, 2007
I miss my mom every day, but there's something about the changing of the seasons that makes the yearning especially poignant.
I was feeling the heartache last week when, for the first time this year, I saw my breath in the still, crisp morning air. Standing outside, I could suddenly smell the aroma of Mom's kitchen on Thanksgiving. I heard her say how she hated to see the leaves fall and the days shorten. I also felt her sweet sprit dancing around me in the dim morning light. It's been 16 months since my mom died and I miss her every day.
Kathy Gardener misses her mom, too. Kathy's mom died when she was 20. She has also lost three children and a husband. It was out of her own grief that Kathy decided to add a dimension of comfort to her garden and landscape business: making grave blankets. "Everyone deals with death differently, " Kathy said. "And yet, since I started this business, I found that I can relate to each one - those who've lost moms, dads, children, or spouses - because I've been there"
Kathy, who lives in Olivet, donated one of her blankets to a Battle Creek family last year. "In the spring, I unexpectedly received a card and a check from the mother of the girl who died," Kathy said, her eyes welling up with tears. "The card read, Thank you for keeping my daughter warm, all winter" Kathy cries a lot. She can't help it. Other's stories touch her deeply. I ordered a blanket for my mom the day Kathy came to the Shopper to place an ad.
When I arrived in Olivet two days later to pick it up, I was surprised by how beautiful it was. I had seen pictures of other blankets and I thought I knew what to expect. I was wrong. Kathy had painstakingly ensured that the type and color of bow and flowers adorning the fresh greenery was just right. Mom would love it.
When my dad and sister and I placed the blanket on the grave, we were silent. The sun came out from behind a cloud and leaves began to fall gently all around us, some kissing the blanket as they landed. Mom stood with us, smiling.
Cheryl Pierce is associate editor for the Battle Creek Shopper News.
Battle Creek Enquirer
Warm Gestures LLC.
November 11, 2006
When Kathy's infant daughter Rachael died 28 years ago, Kathy's motherly instincts were overpowering. "She died on Oct.31. When the snow started falling, my first thought was that she was going to get cold" Kathy said. "I know it is silly, but I just wanted to continue to protect her. And I didn't know what to do about it."
The next winter, through a friend, Kathy learned about "grave blankets." And she immediately made one for Rachael's burial place out of evergreen boughs and pink ribbons, with teddy bears, rocking horses and a Santa Claus.
As a Roman Catholic, Kathy realized that her baby girl had gone on to another place, but making the grave blanket was comforting for her.
It was really my faith in God that got me through the pain," she said.
But making the grave blanket also was a comfort for her.
"I know she is with God and he is keeping her safe, but making her a blanket began a healing process for me," Kathy said.
And the healing has continued through the deaths of a second infant daughter, Kathy's late husband, her father and others. Kathy said she has made hundreds of these "blankets, not only for family members, but for friends and even friends of friends.
I'm not trying to make money on this," Kathy said. If someone is in need, I am happy to make them a grave blanket--and even take it to the cemetery if the family can't get there."
Kathy, 56, a master gardener through Leila Arboretum, now can make one of her grave blankets in about an hour, once she has taken her truck to the nearby tree farm of a friend to get the boughs.
"One of the things that really impresses me about Kathy is her ability to keep going after all she has been through," said Stacey Rocklin, Leila Arboretum horticulturist. "It's especially nice to put out these blankets at this time of year when cemeteries lack color."
To decorate the blankets, Kathy shops the after-Christmas sales and dollar stores. She looked for ribbons, artificial flowers, teddy bears, Christmas ornaments and flags.
Kathy also has provided flowers for funerals and planters for cemeteries and helped individuals and institutions with gardening projects.
While doing volunteer work through Leila Arboretum, she did some landscaping at Evergreen Nursing Home in Springfield and became close friends with a 101-yr old woman named Anne Grevers.
When Grevers died in August 2004, Kathy made a floral arrangement for her funeral, which she called simply, "From my garden to your garden."
Later, she made a grave blanket for Grevers and even delivered it to a cemetery in Grand Rapids.
Anne really touched my heart." Kathy said. "Probably because my own mother died when I was 20. I took care of her like a family member."
Kathy's daughter, Jenny, became emotional when asked about her mother's creative blankets.
"She does it out of love and passion, to make sure that people are not forgotten, she said.
Kathy said doesn't take much time to make a blanket. And, like most things,it's the thought behind them that counts. Making the grave blankets is a way of reaching out to people through love," Kathy said. "Sure, it takes quite a few materials and time, but it mainly takes patience, creativity and love,
Linda Jo Scott is a freelance reporter.
Click here to email Warm Gestures or call them at 269-274-3266
Marshall Community Ad-visor
August 31, 2005Kathy Gardens for the Greater Good
By Donna Daines
When you have a skill that can benefit someone else, people like Kathy of Olivet think you should use it. Wanting to work close to home, Kathy chose to apply her Advanced Master Gardener volunteer hours to beautify the flower beds of Olivet College. "I decided to approach the college with an offer to clean up and enhance their landscaping. They accepted my offer and I put over 15 hours into the project. I love seeing the before and after of gardening projects, she said.
Last year Kathy redid the landscaping of a nursing home. "I like touching people's lives with flowers because they can add such joy to a person's life. I removed old shrubs, added new mulch, planted oriental grasses and planted hanging baskets and container gardens. The Advanced Master Gardening Program at Leila Arboretum where she received her certification, has taught her about flowers, shrubs, bulbs and pest control. She's also learned about garden textures, color combinations, heights, soil applicability and sun exposure issues. I'd like to start an Olivet vegetable garden run by volunteers to grow crops for the needy and I'd love to be part of starting Olivet's own lawn and garden show to raise money for our fire department. Other residents interested in either of these initiatives are invited to call her at her Olivet home.
Click here to email Warm Gestures or call them at 269-274-3266
Battle Creek Enquirer Neighbors
August 4, 2004The gift that grows
Olivet woman donates time to help beautify local nursing home garden
Sarah Chuby - The Enquirer
Kathy always remembers her father, Elmer, working in his vegetable garden.
He always used a shovel and he had a green thumb, she recalled.
Kathy, of Olivet, inherited her father's green thumb, but not his vegetable garden. She decided her garden would grow flowers. "He said, Kathy...you can't eat from that. It doesn't feed you." Kathy said. "I don't remember why I got into flowers. Maybe it is because they are beautiful. All I know is that when I am in my garden, I am in my own world."So Kathy, who is an advanced master gardener, decided to take her skills and her love of flowers to redo the flower beds at Evergreen Manor Senior Care Centre in Springfield.
Kathy said she got the idea to renovate the grounds after looking out a window of a resident's room. "I thought they needed something to brighten up their day," she said. Flowers are perfect. Flowers can brighten anyone's day." About 50 hours of volunteer work later, Kathy had replaced the old red mulch and red flowers with all different types of colored plants. "I worked my butt off taking out the shrubs, trimming hedges and I planted 10 flats of dahlias, oriental grasses and other flowers," she said. But it was worth it to me. I wanted to make a difference."
Melissa Walkinhood, Evergreen Manor's activities director, said Kathy has been a frequent visitor to Evergreen Manor. Kathy's good friend Ann Grevers, 101, lives at the home. "Kathy said she was taking a master gardener class and she wanted to redo the garden," Walkinhood said. "She said she wanted it to be beautiful for the residents."
Kathy, a mother of four and grandma of seven, said her dad made an impression on her, so she is trying to introduce the world of gardening to her grandchildren. While shopping, many grandparents buy their children toys or candy. But she buys them items like a bug box, butterfly net or a children's set of gardening tools. "When they come over they ask, "Can we cut flowers for grandma?" she said. "They are always learning something new." Even though she spends much of her time in her mixed floral garden in Olivet, Kathy hasn't forgotten what her father taught her about growing vegetables. Vegetables haven't made their way into her garden yet, but she keeps the memory of her dad's garden alive.
Since he died three years ago, she has taken on the role of tending to edible plants in Rosebush, where her father is buried.
The vegetable plants she puts next to his headstone represent him, and she leaves a basket of flowers, which represents herself. Every year I go up north and plant a tomato plant up there for him.
Even though he is no longer here, I know that Dad knows what I am doing.
I got my green thumb from my dad. There is no doubt about that.
Click here to email Warm Gestures or call them at 269-274-3266
© 2007 Warm Gestures LLC.