GARDNER, Pauline "Polly" Volunteer Extraordinaire "The problem with relaxing," Polly Gardner was known to say, "is you don't get as much done." That credo elicited chuckles from her family and friends, given it was a spot-on description of the human dynamo that was Polly. However, it was also reality for a mother of seven who was also a community volunteer extraordinaire: There was not much time to put her feet up. Polly, who reveled in family, friendships, community service, lifelong learning, tennis, books, bridge and jigsaw puzzles, died on January 10, 2025, in her home in Brookhaven at Lexington. She was 97, one day shy of her 98th birthday. A longtime former resident of Cambridge, Wellesley and New Bedford, MA, she had also had part-time homes in West Falmouth and West Townshend, VT. To call Polly "outgoing" was not to cover the half of it. There were no strangers in Polly's eyes, whether in the halls of Brookhaven, where she lived for almost 20 years or at the next table in a restaurant, despite occasional cringes from her family members. Her prodigious social talents helped weave together many a community, large or small and kept far-flung family members feeling close, despite geographic distances. The hectic center of her existence was the large family she had with her beloved late husband, Dick and fortunately, she really enjoyed having people around. When some of her own kids were attending foreign exchange programs, for example, she embraced the reciprocal duty of hosting high school students from abroad in the big house on Livermore Road. Literally or metaphorically, the doors were never locked and all were welcome. Born Pauline Auger in New Bedford, MA, in 1927, Polly was the second child for her parents, Roland and Loretta (Tremblay) Auger. Her older brother, Paul, had died as a toddler and for the first seven years of her life, Polly was their only child, until the birth of her sister, Nancy. Their father, a city employee, landlord and local tennis champion, coached Polly in the sport she would play into her 80s. Before the end of high school, Polly, too, was crowned a city tennis champion in New Bedford. As her 1948 graduation from Wellesley College approached, Polly outran a crowded field to be named a co-winner of the annual college Hoop Race. Tradition had it that the first to cross the campus finish line while keeping a wooden hoop rolling would also be the first in the graduating class to marry. Polly bested her peers there as well; her engagement to Richard L. Gardner of Wellesley, then a student at Harvard Business School, was announced just two days later. They were married for 59 years, until Dick's death in 2008. Beginning in the mid-1960s, an old farm in Vermont became a nearly weekly family getaway, for skiing in the winter and tennis in the summer. The Gardners' annual tennis tournament there drew young and old onto the backyard clay court, with many a competitor ruing their underestimation of Polly's drop shot. The hours Polly volunteered for civic and community organizations were seemingly endless, but Wellesley was Polly's home for more than 30 years and her involvement there ran deep. Beneficiaries included the public schools, Town Meeting, the Wellesley Historical Society and the Wellesley Garden Study Group, of which she was founder. Serving as town cookie chairman meant Polly managed 25,000 boxes of Girl Scout cookies passing through the Gardner house. She also helped put together the gift of land to create Wellesley's Centennial Park and even ran (unsuccessfully) for selectman. Twice in the mid-1980s, town organizations presented service awards jointly to Polly and Dick, who had himself been a selectman and a school committee member, among other roles. Not long ago, though, Polly said that the volunteer work of which she was most proud was that she did as part of METCO's board. Beginning in the 1960s, the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity has offered Boston students the opportunity to attend public schools in suburban districts, including in Wellesley and has provided suburban students with a more diverse learning environment. In the early days, Polly and others realized the students from Boston couldn't do sports and extracurriculars if they didn't have rides back into the city at the end of the day. So, along with other parents, Polly helped drive kids into Boston, a daring endeavor in the midst of the racial vitriol that swirled around school desegregation. When she and Dick moved to Brookhaven, Polly once more was an enthusiastic leader, participant and booster of activities from book club to bridge, gardening, French table, current events discussions and more recently, the memoir-writing group. Hallway jigsaw puzzles never failed to draw her competitive scrutiny, but she cheered even more when companions helped fit pieces into place. Polly is survived by her children, Elizabeth Johnson (Douglas) of Springfield, MA, Nancy (Richard Shyduroff) of Rockport, ME, William (Sari Rotter) of Brookline, MA, James (Lynn) of Salt Lake City, UT, Dorothy Freeman (T.J.) of Mexico, Virginia (Patrick Didier) of France and Louis (Millicent Lawton) of Newton, MA. Fifteen grandchildren also survive her, as do nine great-grandchildren; her sister, Nancy, Nancy's family and many friends. Donations in Polly's memory may be made to Friends of Wellesley METCO, Inc., an independent charitable organization,
friendsofwellesleymetco.org Polly asked that all plant a tree. A Celebration of Life will be held at Wellesley College on May 17, 2025.
www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries View the online memorial for Pauline "Polly" GARDNERPublished by Boston Globe from Jan. 30 to Feb. 2, 2025.
