Gardiner Vinnedge | February 12, 1951 – July 6, 2023
Upper School History Teacher, 1977-2017
As one of the charter members of the AMP Committee, Gardiner enthusiastically led a variety of experiential offerings that appealed to stamp collectors, historical archivists, and genealogists. Others drew future broadcasters, philanthropists, lawyers, and politicians. One of his AMP groups collected signatures for Initiative 99 and testified in Olympia which helped Washington State adopt a Presidential primary. Another created a curriculum which was used by the Meadowbrook Farm during elementary school field trips. He served as the Rambler Advisor, then a weekly publication, and on the Student-Faculty Senate. Before Seattle established a recycling program, Gardiner launched Wunderbar Industries, which organized paper drives and which collected and sold used textbooks. With students representing multiple Seattle high schools, he guided them to produce QuakeAid, a city- wide dance with music provided by local high school bands, raising money for victims after the big 1985 Mexican earthquake. With the Big Broadcast (when bandwidth to air was dear), his students reached around the world for 24 hours. Under his guidance, his students organized a yearly Lower School night during basketball season, and another group started Sparky’s “Grill” in the gym.
Gardiner served on numerous k-12 school faculty committees, and he co-chaired a k-12 self-study based on the qualities of a Bush educated student, where the faculty groupings were cross disciplinary and mixed grade levels. In the spring of 2017, Gardiner retired. He spent time working in his extensive yard and researching and writing about family and local histories. On the weekends he could be found sharing Valley stories and helping families research their histories at Snoqualmie Valley Historical Museum.
July 19, 2023 /
There was nothing better than sharing lunch with Gardiner. So many tales.
A beloved teacher and friend.
July 24, 2023 /
A true force of nature. First met Gardiner when he was a young teacher at Catlin Gabel and I was a student there. As a young teacher myself in the early 80s at Bush Gardiner showed me many ways. His enthusiasm for the classroom and community was unparalleled, his energy unmatched, and his love of teaching and dedication to the school impressive.
July 25, 2023 /
There are people who have influenced me greatly. Among those are a handful of teachers from The Bush School. Gardiner led the debate team during my Senior year and we won handily across the Western portion of the state toward the state championship round. Gardiner inspired us to think positively, deeply and widely about issues, and then our team of pure novices under Gardiner’s guidance and motivation tackled the issue of fixing the US medical care. This experience enabled my ability to effectively debate issues, such as medical economics in college, and more as life went a long. If you stand back, it is no accident then that Gardiner and Janice formed a partnership. At the time I knew them, both were separately vibrant, articulate, animated, active individuals with nothing but positivism to lend to those around them. After a challenging year of math with Janice, I went on to study calculus on my own over the following summer and then take Janice’s course during the following year. Than mode of self study has carried me every year since. Even as I write this, I spend a great deal of time studying the mathematics of robotics on my own. I wish Janice, who recently lost her father, who also had a long history in the region, nothing but best and brightest happiness that life offers.
July 25, 2023 /
Gardiner was a titan and formed the intellectual backbone of the Bush Upper School. I count him along with Janice as one of the signature influences in my life. I took debate class from Gardiner my freshman year, the winter of 1993-1994. Gardiner, like Janice, had high expectations, but also great faith in our abilities. He showed me how to channel my curiosity into research. I have been a journalist for over 20 years now, and I am constantly reflecting on how the work habits I established under Gardiner’s guidance are essentially unchanged to this day. I remain so grateful to my education at Bush. People like Gardiner showed me not only how to study and learn, but how to be a better member of a community. I treasure the memories and grieve for Gardiner’s loss. May he live on in all of us.
July 26, 2023 /
Gardiner Vinnedge was a man of deep moral clarity, combined with humility and affection—the truest measure of authenticity and integrity. His standards for academic excellence were high, and he gave us the tools, unselfishly, to climb the ladder of our achievements. Gardiner taught us that learning communities are only as strong as the degree to which its members foster and strengthen a social contract. And he did it all with a deep and sincere kindness.
Gardiner’s teaching was never about performance. Each time I was lucky enough to sit in on one of his classes, the room always seemed to vibrate. There was something important going on…minds at work, engaging and wrestling with ideas. Everyone wanted to be there. As a master of the subjects he taught, Gardiner’s focus was on the students. They were noticed, heard, challenged, and respected. They thrived.
Gardiner reminds us all about the inherent joy of teaching, the goodness of Bush’s mission, and the capacity of human beings to be our better selves. All of this was something to celebrate. Of the many, many incredibly positive memories of my time at Bush, one stands out. When the Mariners reached the playoffs for the first time in 1995, it was Gardiner who found a way to get tickets and help make arrangements for the Upper School to go to a game at the Kingdome. At that moment, Bush felt like a summer-camp, a school, and a sanctuary all rolled up into one. And we won!
On having just heard of Gardiner’s passing, I am filled with sadness. May his memory be a blessing. He was a gift I will cherish forever.
—Fred Mednick
Former Principal, Bush Upper School
July 27, 2023 /
Gardiner was an incredible teacher who heavily influenced my academic interests and career path. My sophomore year at Bush, I was part of his well-known Civics class in which he challenged me more than I’d ever been challenged in my academic journey at that point. He taught us everything from Ronald Regan’s entire life story to land rights, the gig economy, and so much more and was the most engaging and compassionate teacher – never a dull moment in his class. Gardiner sparked my interest in politics and was my first real exposure to the field of study. I graduated a few weeks ago from Stanford with a degree in Political Science and am now moving to Washington DC to start a job consulting in the federal market. I took the major because of the love I found for political science in Gardiner’s Civics class and fully credit him for leading me down this academic and professional journey. I will forever be grateful for his guidance – he was a natural teacher, mentor, and a wonderful person who I am grateful to have had the privilege of knowing and learning from. Thank you, Gardiner. My best wishes are with his family.
July 28, 2023 /
I remember Current Events with Gardiner in an old Gracemont classroom. This was an early morning class and he was always excited and energetic and engaged. He made us think! Gardiner and Ms. Osaka were two of my favorite teachers at Bush – their dedication to students and learning and community inspire me still.
July 30, 2023 /
In the years since I graduated from Bush, there have been no teachers from any chapter in my formal education who return to my thoughts as often as Gardiner. I think of him and his classroom every time I passionately discuss history or politics, open a newspaper, or cast a vote. With his ubiquitous baseball hats, the memory of which make me smile when I now don my own, Gardiner’s luminous, yet humble, presence at community events set a model for excellence in civic participation and an abundant, connected, life. I am a more informed, thoughtful and engaged person because of him, and I know countless others are as well. My heartfelt thoughts are with Janice, another foundational person in my education, and Margie as well.
August 14, 2023 /
I am so sorry to hear of Gardiner’s passing away. I got to know him towards the end of my time teaching Latin at Bush (1973-78) and I was so delighted when he and Janice (one of my best friends back then) got together! My condolences to Janice, their daughter, and other family and friends.