Me and Us

“This is my story. It’s the unvarnished truth about my cultural heritage and it starts in the countryside of southeastern North Carolina. My parents and my entire family have always found things to laugh about in life. When I married my husband, we spent our first 15 months together in Casablanca, which proved a wonderful opportunity to explore another culture.”


Faye Lanier Gardner grew up on a small farm in Pender County, North Carolina, about 30 miles from the well-known beaches. This book is about her many unusual experiences growing up.


As a very young child, she had typhoid fever, and before school age, she also had osteomyelitis, a bone infection of the left arm, which was very painful and debilitating. But this pain became her gain. As a high school senior, she was eligible for a full college scholarship because of her “handicap.”


Faye met her husband-to-be during her first month of college. They married almost four years later. She received her BS in business education and English education from East Carolina University, and her M.Ed. in occupational education from North Carolina State University, Raleigh. She taught at Campbell University, Forsyth County Schools, Hardbarger Business College, and Wake County Public Schools. She also performed secretarial duties on Nouasseur Air Depot near Casablanca, North Africa, and at a law office in Winston Salem.