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Agustin Palacios 0:00
Mr. Gardner, if you could, can you tell us about yourself?

Joshua Corothers 0:05
just a little bit about you know where you grew up?

C.A. Gardner 0:09
Well, I grew up in Nashville, and I live within a mile of where I was born right now. Been there pretty much all my life. When I was a kid, I was in an orphanage for six years, when to the orphanage in the first grade and went back home into seventh grade, went to school at Nashville High School, graduated in 1960. And that was after I came back home. And I've been pretty much the same since then I went to North Carolina State, I'm a civil engineer, and worked with the Department of Transportation for 30 some years, and then with the asphalt pavement Association, which is a trade group promotes asphalt pavement, and worked there for about 14 years and finally retired altogether. That's a short run on my life.

Joshua Corothers 1:26
So you can tell.

Agustin Palacios 1:28
And then, as you think about your life, what were some life challenges that you or a family or a family member had to face? And what were the ways that they were able to deal with that or get help? Maybe like family members, friends or healthcare officials?

C.A. Gardner 1:49
Well, I guess, for my family mode, me as a small child, my mom, tuberculosis, which was a deadly disease back in the 40s, when she had it. And so I didn't know her after. I didn't know anyway, because I was only two years old when she got sick. Which is the reason I ended up in an orphanage is because nobody would look after me in the system. I had some older sisters, but they had already left home. I don't know it probably changed my life. I just didn't know that.

Joshua Corothers 2:32
Yeah. So you'd say during that time of after, I guess, did you see your mom pass after she? So would you ...

C.A. Gardner 2:42
I was like five or six when she died

Agustin Palacios 2:44
Oh, okay.

C.A. Gardner 2:45
She was in a hospital in Wilson, which is they called it the sanatorium was where all the TB folks went because it was so contagious. And they couldn't fix it and learn and how but hadn't got there yet.

Joshua Corothers 3:00
So during those sort of few years, that you said the orphanage was probably your sort of primary sort of caregiver almost in a sense?

C.A. Gardner 3:09
Yeah I was at the Methodist Orphanage in Raleigh we were in colleges, I was in with about 25 other boys my age. And you kind of moved up like going to school. Yeah. Bigger buildings, older kids. Amazingly, the Alumni Association from the orphanage is still very active. I just got an email yesterday about luncheon. I left in seventh grade. I don't know as many as the ones who graduated from there. We had our own high school. And then they closed the High School kids went to Broughton High School
in Raleigh.

Agustin Palacios 4:07
Throughout your time in the orphanage, what was the main thing that kept you on your path and supported you?

C.A. Gardner 4:17
I don't know how, you know, we had family parents, you know, married couple that lived in the building with us and tried to keep us disciplined with 25 boys. It's a pretty big job. We had to do work, the Orphanage had a farm. And I left before I became worker because about the eigth grade. That's where you started working on the farm. So we were, I guess pretty structured. A lot of kids were there that had had some rough experiences. I didn't have those. Other than the fact that I was without my mom, you know?

Joshua Corothers 5:11
So do you said that was the Methodist orphanage? That was in Raleigh. So was so we're Did you ever get sort of involved with the church and different things of that? Because I guess it was run by them?

C.A. Gardner 5:26
Yeah. Well, obviously they made us we went to church ever so yeah. I've been sprinkled and baptized. Sprinkled as a Methodist, I go to a Baptist church. So we were we were a lot of discipline, I guess. I didn't know what to compare it to. Because I didn't know what other kids were doing.

And on the positive side, we got to play ball a lot. You can always have a ball game

Joshua Corothers 6:01
25 boys its nice

Agustin Palacios 6:06
And then after the orphanage, what was your life like?

C.A. Gardner 6:12
Well, I came home, my dad had remarried and, and had a younger sister born. That would have been my half sister but she says theres no half people. And I went to high school. And I was fortunate enough that people said I was smart. I wasn't a good student, but I was really smart. And I was a good athlete played football. At football. And that's kind of what it was. And then I finished high school went state because my math teacher in high school said, you're going to be an engineer. I had done really well on the SAT test.

Joshua Corothers 7:13
So once you so once you moved, I guess she moved to rally him from college. What was sort of your support group? Like once you out there? Who did you just serve rely on the different teachers and students

C.A. Gardner 7:30
Not really. I was smart but a poor student. And I was struggling in school, I quit school. After two years, and I got married and went to work with the Department of Transportation there in the building in Raliegh in some my wife and I we moved there. I've been in the dorms the first two years. And we kind of grew from there. She prodded me along until I finally graduated. She was a good help. And so it went good. I mean, I had a good career to that. And I don't know.

Agustin Palacios 8:30
Do you have anything else you would like to say?

C.A. Gardner 8:36
No, really? I don't know. Anything.

Joshua Corothers 8:39
So I guess besides your your mother with tuberculosis. When you were in the orphanage? Do you remember any like different, I guess illnesses or different medical like were there? Yeah, like different colds and things that would be going around the orphans. You know how they deal with that.

C.A. Gardner 9:00
Yeah, I had [Inaudible] I guess you could equate it to a medical clinic. And I had my tonsils taken out and was very, very sick. I had a cold when they did it. I don't know how old I was then in there third or fourth grade, but I knew I was really really sick. And they probably shouldn't have. Yeah, it's pretty young to go into surgery then particularly. I probably had the flu, you know. And even back then, you know, medical care was a long way from where it is now. Other than that, that's the only time I've ever been sick. Growing up.

Joshua Corothers 9:58
Do you ever remember You're getting started in vaccines or different things, or which one you did like something come out and then you were waiting to get it or do you just sort of do whatever the doctor said.

C.A. Gardner 10:11
They had a doctor you could see, but I don't remember ever seeing a doctor but I'm sure. Only reason I remember because in the winter time they lined us up and got a tablespoon of cod liver was awful, and made it did. She had a gallon jug and she pulled in that spoon and we use the same spoon but bears that's really nice. That was the only health related thing I remembered.

Agustin Palacios 10:49
And whenever you were sick, how was the care at the orphanage?

C.A. Gardner 10:56
I thought it was good. Yeah, I mean, I don't have many negative experiences like that. I still see people that I was in the orphanage with it was a lot of wayward kids. I guess it depends on when you went into orphanage how you fared. But it was kind of ironic, because in Rocky Mountain it was. Back then they called it a reformatory school for kids. And if you went orphanage, if you run away, why assess where you went. And a lot of kids were homesick and run away. And I remember when I went back, and I was playing JV basketball, nice. And we played the reformatory school at Rocky Mountain, a basketball game, and I knew everybody on the team. Know, so I guess I would say going home in the seventh grade probably saved me from more mischief than I could handle. But at the same time, they educated me and it's amazing how many people that I know new, rapidly dying off because it winds up in the 80s. While I'm graduated, there became very successful doctors on movie stars. And, you know, a lot of people did well, financially, it started from . And

Joshua Corothers 12:29
that's very interesting coming from an orphanage and being able to you know, have that level at least of material success. And

C.A. Gardner 12:37
if he would see that group, you would have seen them then you know, you would want to know how in the world they turned out like that

Joshua Corothers 12:44
Was their orphanage at that time. In sort of closer to where you grew up, or was did you have to sort of got out.

C.A. Gardner 12:56
There was not anything closer. Two big orphanages where the Methodist Orphanage in Raliegh and Oxford orphanage, which was Baptist. And my dad didn't go to church very good but he grew up with a Methodist church and I guess that's how I ended up there, but both of them were an hour away.

Joshua Corothers 13:20
Yeah. So is there anything personal you would like to add before we close up? Now?

Do you have any advice or anything you'd like to give

C.A. Gardner 13:36
Study.I was not good at that, I was too interested in playing ball. Which you can do both.

Agustin Palacios 13:48
We have some other students in ou class who are athletes and in History.

Joshua Corothers 13:54
Well, thank you again for coming out. I really appreciate being able to talk to you and hear your story.