Tribute to my father, Rev John Thomson Gardiner  (28 January 1912 - 15 May 2000)
Said at his funeral 18 May 2000

"Well done, thou good and faithful servant....
Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord" Matthew 25:21

John Thomson Gardiner was born 28 January 1912 in Winton the son of an engineer/blacksmith, Donald Gardiner and Janet Thomson of Lochiel. His parents were ordinary people who bought him up in a God loving home. Later they moved to Etal Creek where they farmed till the depression in the thirties forced them off the land. The family moved to Ohai where his father was an engineer at the coalmines. John went to Southland Boys High School 1926 - 1929 and excelled at athletics, rugby (3 yrs 1st XV) and was a prefect.

He was a member of St Paul's Invercargill Bible Class and in 1931 accepted Christ as his Saviour. This began a lifetime of serving the Lord. He decided to go to University and Knox College to become a Presbyterian Minister. In 1933 he was appointed a Student Missionary on Stewart Island and spent 18 months there and another period at Tokanui before going to Dunedin to study. He graduated from Knox College in 1942.

It is important to mention that in 1931 he met Edna Keast and in 25 October 1941 they were married. With John's passing ended  69 years of love and devotion together.

His first 'official' parish was Wyndham (1942 - 1948). He spent a brief period as Chaplain to the Forces in Trentham during WWII. In 1948 we all moved to St Peters in Ferry Road Christchurch. There he founded the 28th Christchurch Boys Brigade Company. 

In 1953 he moved to Balclutha and spent the next eight years there. The workload was very hard with a church roll of over 700. His interest and enthusiasm with the Boys Brigade continued and he founded the 1st Balclutha company. He organised joint camps with the Southland battalion. At a camp in the Eglinton in 1957 he was instrumental in saving a man's life from a swollen river. 

In 1962 John and Edna with their family moved to St Andrews in Suva Fiji. This appointment meant that he had served in the most Southern parish, Stewart Island and the most Northern Fiji. The move to Fiji changed their lives and opened up the world through Edna's close association with the SPSEAWA. Together they attended conferences in many countries including Japan, USA and Tonga.

In 1967 they returned to New Zealand accepting the Ngongatata parish. In 1969 they moved to Auckland where John and Edna ran a small coffee and sandwich lounge in Takapuna. Later that year John made a decision to join a Real Estate company and trained to get his REINZ ticket. Like most things he tackled he made it a success and spent over 12 years in the Real Estate business managing an office in Browns Bay.

Wanting something to do with his spare time he took up pottery and soon became well known in the district. Among his other hobbies were printing and sign writing.

In more recent years he became a 'genealogy whiz' and devoted most of his energy to researching his family and Edna's ancestry. He published works on the Keast's, Thomson's of Winton, Keast begats and the Gardiner Keast Coalition a limited edition of immense value. Even in his late eighties up to last year he still sat at his computer and wrote letters requesting information from family and others to knit together the family trees. A remarkable effort.

To me he was a wonderful father. Often sacrificing much to ensure that we got the best chance at education. Always supporting us in our efforts especially on the sports field. We were so lucky. 

Dad we love you and we were privileged to be part of your family.

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'And Can It Be' (His favourite hymn sung at the Service)

And can it be, that I should gain
An interest in the Saviour's blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be
That Thou my God, should'st die for me?

'Tis mystery all! The Immortal dies:
Who can explore His strange design?
In vain the first-born seraph tries
To sound the depths of love divine.
'Tis mercy all! Let earth adore,
Let angel minds enquire no more.

He left his Father's throne above.
So free. so infinite His grace
Emptied Himself of all but love
And bled for Adam's helpless race:
'Tis mercy all, immense and free;
For, O my God, it found out me!

Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and natures' night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray,
I woke, and the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine!
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach the eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

(His favourite hymn sung at the Service)