The Star has received word of the unexpected death of Karie Renee Gardiner, formerly of East Hampton Village, who was found at home in Fullerton, Calif., on Dec. 3. Ms. Gardiner, who had been in declining health, was 62.
Ms. Gardiner, who lived in East Hampton from 1991 to 2014, was a member of the East Hampton Town Republican Committee and the East Hampton Rotary Club. She was also actively involved in the Girl Scouts.
She was born in Fullerton on June 30, 1958, one of two children of Raymond and Nadine Miller. She was a graduate of Fullerton High School.
In September of 1983, she married Bill Gardiner, who grew up in the Gardiner Brown House on Main Street in East Hampton. They first lived in Newport Beach, Calif., before moving to Boca Raton, Fla., in 1985.
Mr. Gardiner, of East Hampton and Boca Raton, survives, as do their children, Ashley Gardiner of East Hampton and Billy Gardiner Jr. of Boca Raton. Ms. Gardiner's brother, Stephen Miller, died before her.
Ms. Gardiner did secretarial work and had a career in the hospitality field, working at restaurants and resorts including the Maidstone Arms in East Hampton and the Royal Atlantic Beach Resort in Montauk.
She loved horses and horseback riding from a very young age. In East Hampton, her horse, Baron, stayed with one of her husband's aunts, Fanny Gardiner Collins, who was well known locally and to whom she was very close. Ms. Collins died in 2011 at age 92.
Because of the pandemic, services for Ms. Gardiner will be held at a future date. She will be buried at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, Calif.
