Page 3 - Darnell Laverne Gardiner

Jesus said, “Suffer the little children to come unto me.”
Matthew 19:14
A champion for children, Darnell Laverne Gardiner, was born on August 28th, 1975, to the union of Stanley and Cassandra Gardiner, in the settlement of Bottle Creek, North Caicos. She was always a bright spark and started her academic career at an early age at Adelaide Oemler Primary and later transitioning to Raymond Gardiner High School. After graduating high school, Darnell moved to Nova Scotia, Canada where she studied Hospitality Management at Cape Breton University formerly known as University College of Cape Breton Canada [UCCB]. While living in Canada she found a home away from home with the predeceased Patriarch Vincent M. Waterman and his family with whom a close bond remains to this day. After completing three years of studies, she returned home to the Turks & Caicos Islands.
Professionally, Darnell pursued what she studied abroad and applied all her work experience and gained employment at Ocean Club for several years. After several years in the hospitality field she transitioned into Banking with Scotia Bank as a Bank Teller, where she worked hard and got promoted to Retail Administrative Clerk until 2010.
Darnell always dreamed of becoming a counselor, and in her efforts to bring this to fruition, she took up residence in Houston, Texas, bringing her children along for the journey. She began her studies in 2010, but unfortunately, in 2011, she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. There was no other recourse but to return home to Turks and Caicos where she could receive medical care; this care also included several trips to the Bahamas. At the center of it all, it was Darnell’s faith in God that consistently won her battle with the disease. Her belief was in God, the Great Physician, and it is because of her deeply rooted faith that Darnell was declared cancer-free in 2017.
Darnell was one who was not afraid to reinvent herself and this was demonstrated throughout her everyday life. She then gained employment with Turks & Caicos Immigration Department [until her time of death] in the administrative department where she made an impact in the department’s daily function.
Even as she struggled, “Aunty Darn,” as she was called by many, was a giver at heart. Her love of the kitchen made her a cook extraordinaire; she always seemed to create meals out of bottomless pots. Likened to the feeding of the five thousand, never has anyone seen so many individuals fed from the smallest of pots! You would imagine that as she cooked, she praised God for his many blessings upon her and her children’s lives. Darnell NEVER LOST HER PRAISE because she knew that God was faithful.
While on earth, Jesus’ instruction was to feed His sheep, and Darnell answered the call of this commandment with an unmatched eagerness. She spoke positively over every situation, no matter how hopeless it appeared to man’s understanding. Her dream of being a counselor did not manifest with a formal