Mary Laverne “Cindy” Gardner Stringer

Published 12:13 am Monday, April 2, 2012

NATCHEZ — Services for Mary Laverne “Cindy” Gardner Stringer, 83, who died Saturday, March 31, 2012, will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Laird Funeral Home in Natchez.

Visitation will be from 1 p.m. until service time Tuesday at the funeral home.

Stringer was born Mary Laverne Gardner on Sept. 15, 1928, in Summit, the daughter of Lois Courtney Watson and Vernon Gardner. She grew up in Lincoln County and graduated from Whitworth College in Brookhaven. Blessed with enormous talent, creativity and intelligence, she began her working life in radio at stations in McComb, New Orleans and Natchez. She was one of the first female radio personalities in the South and interviewd a multitude of well-known individuals, including Minnie Pearl, Mahalia Jackson, Tony Bennett and Gen. Douglas MacArthur. She hosted a popular late-night radio show in Natchez in the early 50s.

In June of 1960, Cindy began a long and fruitful career at Jordan Kaiser and Sessions engineering firm in Natchez and was still employed there until last year. She was involved in many varied projects over the years as an engineering and survey technician, including street and drainage system design in many familiar neighborhoods in the Miss-Lou, and the Adams county Port and Natchez Airport expansions. Her early interest in computer technology led to developing and writing programs, as well as website design and development. Among her many notable accomplishments was an exhibit of the work of surveyor Charles Babbit for a reception honoring Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbit. Perhaps the most significant achievement of her work with JKS was in helping to establish the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians.

She was a lifelong writer. Her early poetry brought her to the attention of the renowned Scott Meredith Literary Agency in New York. Her writing continued through her radio years as a copy writer for radio journalists. With her first attempt at writing screenplays, she received the highly coveted Nicholls Fellowship, awarded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for “The Cotton Gin Athletic Club.” She subsequently won a number of national competitions, including the Key West Indie Festival in 2004 and the Telluride Indie Festival in 2004, with other screenplays she authored.

To the many people who admired, respected and love her, perhaps her greatest gift was the ability to help others get in tough with their individuality and their creative potential. Cindy’s generosity of spirit and her ability to bring people together healed relationships and transformed lives.

Survivors include three daughters, Jennifer Ogden Combs and husband, Robert, Lucinda Ogden and husband, Charles Brenner, and Matilda Ogden Stephens; two granddaughters, Kelsey Stephens Roberts and husband, Graham, and Carleigh Combs; two brothers, George Gardner and wife, Peggy, and Robert Gardner and wife, Jane; two great grandchildren, Madison Greene and Jerry Roberts; honorary family members Fay and Ulric Minor; and a number of nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, her family asks that donations be made to the charity of choice.

Online condolences can be made at www.lairdfh.com.