This article was updated on June 6, 2026 to include newly discovered articles about Phyllis’ life after her son’s death and new photos of her resting place
When Phyllis Winnifred Gardiner was born on December 14, 1897 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, her father, Samuel Gardiner (1859-1914) was 38, and her mother, Teresa (née Stevens) (1861-1921) was 36. She had two brothers and six sisters.
According to military records for her son, Phyllis married and had one child with Murray Joseph Gray. I haven’t found a marriage record, birth record or any other information on Murray Gray. I’ve done an extensive search on both sides of the border and not discovered a census record for the family in 1920/21 or for Murray prior to that time (Phyllis is with her parents in 1901/1911). I have found a 1924 border crossing record that suggests that Phyllis was still going by the name Gardiner at the time of her crossing. Until I am able to review Leonard’s birth certificate, my conclusion will have to be that the child was born without the benefit of marriage.
Phyllis had one child, Leonard Joseph (presumably Gardiner, later Gray) born August 2, 1918 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
I was not able to locate a death record or gravestone for Murray Gray. Leonard’s military files suggest that his “father” was dead before 1939, and that he died of pneumonia. The military records for Leonard also suggest that Phyllis worked as a part-time stenographer during WWII. In the 1920s and and thirties, her job was a domestic.
Leonard was killed tragically during World War II at a pilot training camp in Manitoba, Canada at the age of 22. At the time of his death, Leonard’s mother was living at 860 Valleyway, Niagara Falls, Ontario, with her sisters Hilda and Vera. The Niagara Falls Library website suggests that house numbers changes in 1970 in Niagara Falls – “Most of the house number changes that occurred between 1969 and 1970 involved adding 4000 to the number – so 910 became 4910, 1482 became 5482.” – which means that 860 Valleyway became 4860 Valleyway. Records related to Leonard’s death give us additional information, the name of the building was Jubilee Apartments. An image of the Jubilee Apartments confirms that the building’s address is now 4681 Valleyway. Since this photo was taken, the building has been covered in aluminum siding.
Phyllis was changed by the death of her son. In the months after her death, a report in the Niagara Falls review suggested she was despondent and went missing. The report describes her as forty years old, five feet four inches with slim build, with fair hair and grey eyes.
Some time after that, she spent several years in and out of the Hamilton Psychiatric Hospital.
By the mid-seventies, Phyllis moved to Sunset Manor, a seniors home in Welland. An article in the July edition of the Niagara Falls review features an image of her with other local seniors camping at Niagara Meadows. Further highlights were published in 1976 and 1978 celebrating her birthday at the facility.
There is a stone for Phyllis at Fairview Cemetery in Niagara Falls—she died on November 26, 1984, just over two weeks short of her 86th birthday. The obituary suggests that Phyllis was still at Sunset Haven at the time of her death, but had formerly lived at 6576 Kiwanis Crescent in Niagara Falls. She was survived by her sisters Vera, Marion and Hilda and her brother Charles. Another article suggests funeral services took place on Tuesday, November 27, 1984 at the Patterson Funeral Home, with Father Dominic Pizzacalla presiding. She was interred with her son Leonard, niece Frances and sister Amy at Fairview Cemetery.
