EVANS MILLS, NY — Emma Ruth Gardner Lingenfelter, 90, a life-long resident of Evans Mills, died Saturday, June 8, 2019, at Samaritan Keep Home, Watertown, NY.
Born May 25, 1929, on the family farm in Gardnerville, the daughter of the late Ruth Bennett Gardner and Elwood Lawrence Gardner, she was the salutatorian of the 1946 graduating class of Evans Mills High School. She also graduated from the State Agricultural and Technical Institute at Canton, NY in 1948 with an associate’s degree in Dietary Science.
She moved to Brooklyn, NY in 1948, spending six months in training at Methodist Hospital and remained as staff dietician there for nearly three years. In 1951 she became homemaking teacher and school lunch manager at Evans Mills High School. Within the year she would resign the teaching post to become part-time school secretary while continuing as school lunch manager.
She married Gerald A. “Sye” Lingenfelter in a candlelight service on Easter Sunday, April 10, 1955, at the United Methodist Church, Evans Mills. After a hiatus to have three children, she returned to the Indian River Central (IRC) School System and spent many years as a secretary in the IRC High School Guidance Department, retiring in 1991.
Mrs. Lingenfelter was interested in all things domestic, was an avid gardener, an excellent cook, and found time to pick up the accordion while living in Brooklyn. She was a member of the Evans Mills Firemen’s Auxiliary, a Girl Scout Troop Leader, and financial secretary of the United Methodist Church in Evans Mills for over 40 years.
She loved camping with her husband and family in the Adirondacks and, over the years, visiting her children in the Capitol District, Indiana, Texas and New Orleans, LA.
Survivors include a son and his wife, Dale and Lisa, Rexford, NY; two daughters and a son-in-law, Linda Cates, Carmel, IN and Esther and Gerald Greiner, The Woodlands, TX; five grandchildren, Ashley and Matthew Lingenfelter, Rexford NY and Los Angeles, CA, Jamie and Erin Cates, Carmel, IN and Elliot Greiner, Ann Arbor, MI; and two great grandchildren, Kailyn Jackson and Aidan Cates, Carmel, IN; a sister and brother-in-law, Ethel and George Fields, Burnt Hills, NY, and several nieces and nephews.
Two brothers, Myron and Elwood Gardner, a sister, Evelyn Drake and a son-in-law, J. Mac Cates died before her.
A funeral service will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday, June 13, at the Frederick Bros. Funeral Home, Theresa, with the Rev. David Snyder officiating. Calling hours, from 12 to 2 p.m., will precede the funeral service. Burial will follow in Sanford Corners Cemetery, Calcium, NY.
A reception will follow the burial at the Evans Mills Fire Hall, 8615 LeRay St.
Donations may be made to the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America at www.alzfdn.org.
Condolences may be made online at www.frederickbrosfuneralhome.com.
