Brian and Rondi (Veland) Gardner
Overland Park, KS
Updates for 55th reunion – Here are some highlights since our last reunion.
In November of 2021, our son, John, married Laura Robertson. They welcomed their son, Jensen, in October of 2022 and daughter, Olivia, in February of 2024. We are happy to have three grandsons and one granddaughter now. Our daughter, Meredith and son in law Lance, with their two boys live in the same neighborhood as John and Laura so we are blessed that they live close to us.
In the spring of 2023 we started looking at properties that could be a gathering place for our family since we sold the farm in Iowa. Our daughter, Meredith, who is a realtor, found us a great place only thirty minutes from our home in Overland Park. It has a house, ponds for fishing, swimming, and timber for hiking. The projects there keep us quite busy.
On May, 31, 2025 our daughter, Stephanie married Jonathan Terry in Sedona, AZ. It was a beautiful wedding and the pictures taken in the red rocks were spectacular.
Life is busy and we are thankful for our health, family and friends.
From 50+1 reunion – We have been married for 45 years. We moved to the Kansas City area in 1978 and have been here ever since. We have three children. Our oldest, Meredith and our youngest, John live 15 minutes from us. Meredith and her husband, Lance have two boys: Barrett (5 years) and Milo (3 years). Meredith works for a bridal company, Essence of Australia. Her husband and John are both Project Managers for a local construction company. John is engaged and will be married in November to Laura, who we welcome into our family. Our daughter, Stephanie lives in Dallas and received her data analytic degree in December of 2020. She worked at American Airlines and recently started a new job at Capital One. All of our kids graduated from Iowa State. Go Cyclones!
Rondi stayed at home with the kids until our youngest was in second grade. She taught computer class at the elementary school our children attended and retired in 2013. Brian practiced law and managed a law firm in Kansas City until 2003 when he joined Hallmark Cards as General Counsel. He retired from Hallmark in 2018, but keeps busy chairing the board of Vermeer Corporation in Pella, IA.
In 1998 we bought a farm in southern Iowa with Brian’s brother Rich and wife, Rose. It was a great country gathering place for our families. As we aged, upkeep became a challenge and we decided to sell it last year and bought a place in Sedona, AZ to spend our winters. We love our time with our two grandchildren, golf and travel.
Favorite teachers were Mrs. Ligon and Mr. Brendeland. Glad we had Mrs. Green for English, but it didn’t seem like such a good thing at the time.
Brian and Rondi
