Gardner Family History Initiative Ms. Tasha Gardner

I am Tasha Gardner, the great great great granddaughter of the late John Wesley Mishoe and Teana Brockington; great great granddaughter of the late Francis Gardner and Mary Lou Mishoe Gardner; great granddaughter of the late Francis Gardner Sr and Lucinda Poinsette Gardner; the granddaughter of the late Francis Gardner Jr and Viola Small(s) Gardner; and the youngest of Curtis Gardner and Ruth Tucker Gardner. I have one older brother, Todd, who is married to Karen and have 2 children Olivia (4) and Jacob (1).

Philadelphia is my home, where I serve as the Director for the learning center at Drexel University where I’ve been employed for 12 years.  I have a Bachelor’s in Business Administration, concentration in Management Information Systems and a Master’s in Higher Education Administration both from Drexel University.  I am currently working on my Doctorate of Education in Higher Education, concentration of Curriculum, Teaching, Leadership and Learning, from Northeastern University. My research will be exploring the experiences of black students as a result of a lack of black faculty at predominantly white institutions (such as Drexel and Northeastern).  Much of my work at Drexel has been around the support and retention of minority student populations as well as those who are the first in their family to go to college (first generation) through the management of various grant and other mentor support programs. Where will my degree lead me? Who knows, that’s the exploration adventure I am on now.  

I do this in memory of my grandparents, Deac n’ Vi.  They migrated from South Carolina to Troy, NY in 1952.  Upon their arrival they joined Bethel Baptist Church where they served tirelessly and have left an everlasting legacy.  They lived in Troy until I was 6 years old. I remember spending weekends at their house and wandering through the hidden passages.  I remember family dinners in the downstairs dining room after church and red kool-aid. There was always a candy dish full of fun size Snickers and mints.  It took me the longest time to realize when people said Deac n’ Vi that it wasn’t one word. But I get it, two becomes one. And this is way before it was “cool” to merge couples names (move over Bennifer and Kimye).  

In 1985 they retired to Myrtle Beach.  Weekends weren’t the same, Sunday dinners weren’t the same (even though there was still red kool-aid).  All of my early memories are mostly of grandma, who always had a story to tell. But unfortunately her health started going.  Now that I’m older I wish I would’ve listened more to her stories to be able to continue that legacy. As I got older my memories are more of grandpa. He could tell some stories too, but mostly he told on himself and how he knew he wasn’t supposed to have salt due to gout but the doctor could just give him a shot and he’d be fine, so why not live a little?  From that I learned I should enjoy life.

“Whatever you want to be, be the best.” - Deac n’ Vi