It was 21 July 1920 that Helen Louise Gardner married Ward O Quarles in Wardner, Idaho.  But who was this couple and why am I including them in my blog?  Well, Helen was my ½ first cousin, twice removed and Ward was the man lucky enough to have married Helen.

Helen Louise Gardner was born 1 August 1895 in Gumuson, Colorado to William Fritz Gardner and Minnie Martenis.  William Fritz was the eldest son of my great great grandfather, William G Gardner (nee Wilhelm Gotthardt Gaertner) his first wife, Louise Kohler.  Louise died shortly after the birth of William Fritz.  Helen and Ward had one child, Bruce Martenis Quarles who died in child birth.

I am ever grateful to Helen for her long letters to my grandmother, her ½ first cousin, Florence Koontz Weaver, in which she recounted her memories and recollections of the Gardner family with updates from as many cousins as she could contact.   Grandma kept these letters and when I became interested in genealogy, she handed me the batch of Cousin Helen’s letters with the “you might like to have these”.  Without those letters, Quarles would have just been an odd name in the family tree.