Fay Webb Gardner

Fay Lamar Webb-Gardner (September 7, 1885 – January 16, 1969) was an American political hostess, businesswoman, and philanthropist. As the wife of Oliver Max Gardner, she served as the Second Lady of North Carolina from 1917 to 1923 and as First Lady of North Carolina from 1929 to 1933. When her husband's political career took them to Washington, D.C., she became known as a prominent society and political hostess and was considered one of the most popular figures in American political circles of the time. Webb-Gardner was active in cultural and civic endeavors and was a member of the American Red Cross, the Woman's Missionary Union, the North Carolina Symphony Society, the National Civic League, and the League of Women Voters, as well as Chairwoman of the North Carolina State Advisory Board of Paroles. A Democrat, she served on the North Carolina Democratic Committee and the Democratic National Committee, and was twice elected as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention.

Gardner–Webb University in Boiling Springs, North Carolina, was named after her and her husband after they made significant financial contributions to the school. Webb later served on the university's board of trustees and as the president of the Gardner Foundation, which helped support the university. An amateur genealogist and member of a prominent North Carolinian family, Webb-Gardner was active in the Colonial Dames of America, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

Early life, education, and family Fay Lamar Webb was born on September 7, 1885, in Shelby, North Carolina, to politician James L. Webb and Kansas Love Andrews Webb. She was the niece of U.S. Congressman Edwin Y. Webb. A member of a politically and socially prominent North Carolinian family, she was descended from American colonists and had ancestors who fought in the American Revolution, the Mexican-American War, and the American Civil War.

She attended Shelby public schools and later the Lucy Cobb Institute, a girls' boarding school in Athens, Georgia, graduating from the latter with honors in 1905. Afterward, Webb spent two years traveling in Europe before marrying lawyer Oliver Max Gardner, her distant cousin, on November 6, 1907.

Public life

Webb-Gardner was a prominent political and society hostess throughout her husband's political and legal career in North Carolina, where he worked as a lawyer and served as a state legislator, lieutenant governor, and governor; and in Washington, D.C., where he served as Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion and as United States Assistant Secretary of the Treasury.

Webb-Gardner owned and managed various business properties in Shelby. In an act of gratitude to Webb-Gardner and her husband for their service to the school, the school's board of trustees renamed the institution as Gardner-Web University in 1942.

Personal life

Webb-Gardner was an amateur genealogist and collected research and primary documents dating back to the early 1800s pertaining to the Webb, Andrews, Love, and Gardner families of Cleveland and Rutherford counties in North Carolina. A large portion of the collection documents her extensive involvement in her husband’s political career and in her own valued organizations. She was an active member of the Colonial Dames of America, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The couple took up residence in the Mayflower Hotel Washington, D.C. during her husband's career there.

Death and legacy On January 10, 1969, Webb-Gardner suffered a stroke. She died in a hospital in Charlotte on January 16, 1969, and was subsequently buried at Sunset Cemetery in Shelby. director of undergraduate research at Gardner-Webb was named the Fay Webb-Gardner Chair of Student Success in 2018.