Yvonne Swanson Gardner grew up in Southington, Connecticut. Her parents still reside in the house where she was raised and have been very involved in the soccer community by volunteering their time and skills in town for over forty years. Yvonne is proud to say they are both in the Connecticut Soccer Hall of Fame.After Yvonne married, she moved to Farmington. She and her husband Greg raised their two daughters in the same house that he grew up in and will be celebrating their thirtieth wedding anniversary on September 9th. Yvonne has worked at FOCUS Center for Autism for seventeen years and says that it is by far the most rewarding job she has ever had. Her older daughter Lauren, “one of the lights of my life” has worked with her in some capacity at FOCUS since she was a young girl. For the last few years Lauren has been a full time employee. She is also a Rotarian. Her younger daughter Kara is “the other light in my life”. She recently graduated from CCSU with a degree in Elementary Education. Yvonne is also a graduate of CCSU. Her degree was in Psychology and Interpersonal Communication.
Yvonne is very active in Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Hartford, serving on the church council and heading up “Church by the Pond”, an outreach program which involves holding a mini church service and serving bag lunches to the homeless in Bushnell Park. She also participates in the church “Sprout” program where every Saturday neighborhood kids get breakfast, do gym activities and are sent home with bag lunches.
The Gardner family has two rescue dogs - Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski. Needless to say, they are huge Red Sox fans. Yvonne loves the outdoors and enjoys bicycling with her dad on those weekends where it is possible. She also enjoys spending time with family and friends.