Lifetime Achievement: Paul Gardner is Queen Creek Hometown Hero for September

Paul Gardner has been called one of the founding fathers of Queen Creek and it’s easy to see why.

Not only does Gardner have deep roots in the town, but he was also part of the effort to get Queen Creek incorporated in 1989, and today he continues his work to help the town achieve a long-time water supply.

Gardner’s grandfather moved to area that would become Queen Creek in 1948 and worked for Leo Ellsworth who farmed much of the San Tan Valley region.

He became involved in the incorporation push in the 1980s when surrounding cities were starting to encroach on the town’s borders.

“If we didn't act soon, we would be erased from all maps as a community,” Gardner said.

Age: 63

Occupation: Water Resources director, town of Queen Creek

Hometown: Queen Creek

Family: Wife, Jill; sons Jackson, 24 and Lincoln, 22; and daughters Reagan, 20, and Kennedy, 16

How did your family end up in Queen Creek? My grandfather moved to Queen Creek in 1948 to work for Leo Ellsworth who farmed the majority of Queen Creek/San Tan Valley.

What was it like growing up here? I moved back to Queen Creek when I was 24 but we would come to Queen Creek four-five times a year to visit my grandparents. There were no stoplights in QC; you could drive from Baseline Road south on Ellsworth Road and not until Ocotillo Road would you hit your first stop sign. The Fourth of July was the largest event each year and it always appeared that the entire area of QC would show up for the barbecue and fireworks.

What’s your fondest memory of Queen Creek’s early days? Riding in a pickup truck with my grandfather to check on the farming operations and stopping to move very large rattlesnakes out of the road. My grandfather would tell me stories of the Queen Creek wash running over its banks from south of Chandler Heights Road to Downtown Queen Creek up to the top steps of the Old Town Hall. This happened in the early ‘50s several years in a row.

What values did your parents teach you? To not just work hard but to work smart, to help other people that are less fortunate than you and to give back to the community. Family, faith, country, community.

Do you remember the first time you thought “changes need to come to Queen Creek?” In the mid-1980s we started to feel the encroachment on Queen Creek from Mesa and Gilbert and felt if we didn't act soon, we would become a postal district with no identity and no local control and the backyard to our neighboring communities. We also felt the need for a grocery store, a bank and other conveniences that we would have to travel 30 minutes to use.

How did you become involved in the incorporation movement? Mark Schnepf, Steve Sossaman and I met with our Maricopa County supervisor to see what it would take legally to become incorporated – we were all in our 20s or early 30s – we added Ralph Pomeroy, the school superintendent, and Robert Eberle, the founder of the Kiwanis Club in QC. The rest of the story is in the video on the town’s website. “From Rittenhouse to QC.” We found out that the town of Gilbert had not only annexed to Power Road but actually 600 feet east of Power Road and that Mesa was planning on coming south to Germann Road. If we didn't act soon, we would be erased from all maps as a community.

 How do you feel when you’re around the other “Founding Fathers?” First off, we have had a relationship of the remaining three of us for over 40 years. We are like proud fathers to see what Queen Creek has become from the original 1,600 population at incorporation to over 75,000 population today with so many young families moving here for the lifestyle and open space of our parks and trails, along with our washes. It just makes us all proud of the continued support from the current town council to all the past councils to fulfill the original general plan that was presented over 35 years ago and continues to be tweaked and honored.

What does being nominated for this award mean to you?  There have been so many people who I have looked up to over the years that have received this award. It is an honor to be part of the honorees for this year that have done so much for Queen Creek, their neighbors and for those in need.

Ensuring the town’s future water supply is a passion of yours. How has that kept you working in town government? Part of the state law adopted in 1980 was to have a 100-year assured water supply which has now morphed into a forever water supply. As QC continues to grow and prosper, obtaining a status as a designated provider has been a goal of the town council and one that I take very seriously. Over the next several years, the town will achieve that designation that all current residents currently have and that is a long-term renewable supply of water for not only the next several generations but for QC 200-300, years out.

In terms of water, what would you say is your biggest accomplishment? I have been involved in bringing renewable supplies from the Colorado River, Harquahala and the Verde River. Each one of those projects will ensure QC current and future users for 100 years and more a renewable supply of water. The most rewarding though has been the establishment of using our wastewater to nearly 100 % of reuse and recharging and recovering that treated effluent and returning that water to subdivisions in our lake program that is used strictly for the HOA landscaping needs. These neighborhoods have become self-sufficient in producing the water through their waste stream that is treated to nearly drinking water standards and returned to them to be used back in their own subdivisions for their own landscaping.

Where would you like to see Queen Creek 20 years from now? As we continue to acquire water supplies my hope is that our employment and industrial areas in the northeast part of town will continue to create meaningful jobs and shorten our commute time for many of our residents. And these employers will become self-sufficient in the water that they consume and will be 100% on renewable water supplies and reuse their generated treated effluent to offset their demands.

What’s one thing you want people to know about you? I love Queen Creek. I am one of nine children, and our family is very close knit. My mother and father will be 91 and 94 this year and live in Queen Creek. I have seven siblings that live in Queen Creek and many of their children live here too. This has been a great community for my wife and I to raise our four children. We all love Queen Creek and feel the need to give back to the community that has done so much for us.

 What do you most cherish from your childhood? Family. We weren’t poor but we weren’t well off — we learned to travel together and each summer we would spend it camping for a month up in the White Mountains of northeastern Arizona fishing, playing baseball in the meadows and cooking on Dutch ovens for all of our meals, playing card games and going on hikes in the forest. There were 11 of us so we were kind of hard to miss and we were always a crowd. You learned how to earn a dollar and how to stretch a dollar and the importance of helping others.

The Queen Creek Independent is pleased to announce Paul Gardner as the September 2024 Hometown Hero bestowed in the category of Lifetime Achievement.  The Queen Creek Independent along with East Valley Institute of Technology and the Queen Creek Olive Mill salute Mr. Gardner as this month's Queen Creek Hometown Heroes Awards recipient.