Death
Gardner was killed in a motorcycle accident about 2 mi (3.2 km) from his home in Susquehanna County on Tuesday, September 14, 1982. State Police said that at about 2:30 pm, Gardner completed a curve on Route 92 about 3 mi (4.8 km) north of Oakland, when he lost control of his 1979 Harley-Davidson and went into the dirt shoulder, and then was thrown from the motorcycle. He was pronounced dead at Barnes-Kasson Hospital in Susquehanna. Gardner's fiancée, Susan Thornton, states that Gardner had been drinking the night before the accident. The autopsy revealed Gardner had a blood alcohol level of 0.075; the legal limit for driving at the time was 0.08. The crash came days before he was to marry Thornton. Gardner is buried next to his brother Gilbert in Batavia's Grandview Cemetery.
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