William S. Gardner, K.C., reflects on a legacy of care and leadership passed down through three generations, all deeply connected to Manitoba’s hospital
Gardner with family members, including his children Will, Rachael, and Leah: “As volunteers and as donors we can make sure that the hospital is equipped to take care of our loved ones for many years to come.”
William S. Gardner, K.C., was pressed into babysitting service when he brought his grandson home from soccer practice one evening in mid-April.
“My daughter Leah wasn’t feeling well, so she and her husband Evan went to the Emergency Department at HSC,” says Gardner, a long-serving Health Sciences Centre Foundation Board member and former Vice-Chair. “She was diagnosed quickly and had an emergency appendectomy.”
Less than 24 hours later, with his daughter recovering well, Gardner was standing in front of his colleagues at Pitblado Law, co-hosting a presentation about the Foundation’s Operation Excellence campaign. “I looked around the room, reflected on my daughter’s crisis from the previous day, and was reminded how vitally important HSC is,” says Gardner. “It touches everyone.”
He knows it in his head, he knows it in his heart, but his passion for Manitoba’s hospital is also deeply embedded in his DNA.
Gardner’s grandfather, Dr. William A. Gardner, was an orthopedic surgeon at the Winnipeg General Hospital which merged with other institutions to form HSC in 1973. Three years after HSC was born, Gardner’s father, William C. Gardner, Q.C., served as the Founding Chair of the HSC Foundation.
William S. Gardner: “I looked around the room, reflected on my daughter’s crisis from the previous day, and was reminded how vitally important HSC is. It touches everyone.”
Every Father’s Day (and every other day, too), Gardner reflects on the influence of his grandfather and father.
“They were both so instrumental in my life,” he says. “I remember at the age of five going with my grandfather on house calls when he checked up on his patients. And he used to tell me stories about his service as a surgeon on the western front in France in World War I. He prided himself on being the fastest of the surgeons to saw through a femur without anesthetic when an urgent amputation was required. He also told me a story about a time he was visiting patients in a main hospital tent close to the frontlines. He left to go to another tent, and returned soon after to the main tent which had become a smoking hole from a direct hit.”
Gardner’s father saw action in the Second World War. After his ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Denmark Strait, he survived enemy fire and icy cold waters, staying afloat by clinging onto pieces of the wreckage. He later landed on Juno Beach on D-Day. Many years later, as a practising lawyer, he became a leader in health care in Manitoba, first as the Chair of the hospital’s Board of Directors and then as the Founding Chair of the Foundation.
“My dad and others saw gaps,” says Gardner. “They realized that there had to be other sources of funding outside of government to keep the hospital moving forward.”
Dr. William Arthur Gardner (upper right), William Cooper Gardner, Q.C. (just below, in sunglasses), and William Sparling Gardner (below, in short-sleeved green shirt, around the age of 13): “They were both so instrumental in my life,” says Gardner of his father and grandfather.
In 2002, Gardner accepted an invitation to join the HSC Foundation Board of Directors. He joined the Board as an act of tribute to his grandfather and father, but also from his own deep-seated conviction that volunteerism and community support of HSC are essential for the hospital’s success today and for all time.
It’s a sentiment that he continues to model for his children Will, Leah, and Rachael—a pediatrician who completed her residency on the HSC campus—and for his three grandchildren.
“Serving on this Board continues to be the honour of a lifetime. As volunteers and as donors we can make sure that the hospital is equipped to take care of our loved ones for many years to come,” says Gardner. “Ultimately, every Manitoban will need HSC.”
By Stu Slayen
This Father’s Day, the HSC Foundation salutes Manitoba fathers and all father figures. To support the HSC Foundation so that all Manitobans can get the best care possible, please click here or call 204-515-5612 or (toll-free) 1-800-679-8493.
