John F. Gardosik

John Francis Gardosik was born on July 4, 1910 in Windber, Pennsylvania, to immigrant parents from Czechoslovakia.¹ At a young age, he moved with his family to nearby Central City, Pennsylvania.² By 1930, Gardosik worked as a coal miner.³ He became a leader in his community, winning election as one of the directors of the local Miners Association and to the Central City town council in 1949 and 1957.⁴ 

In July 1958, Gardosik moved to Silver Spring, Maryland, and began working as a gardener at the White House. Several months later, he brought his family along with him, including his wife Mary and their four children.⁵ Typically, White House gardeners helped maintain the grounds and performed landscaping duties, but a 1961 White House staff Christmas list identified Gardosik as working in the "Bouquet Room" alongside the florists, which suggests he also arranged flowers for White House functions and for decorating the Residence.⁶ A newspaper article about his White House work published in his hometown stated Gardosik “enjoys the job tremendously.”⁷ Sometime prior to 1971, Gardosik shifted roles to engineer, a  job that entailed maintaining White House systems including HVAC, plumbing, and refrigeration.⁸ According to a newspaper article, President Richard Nixon’s pet poodle Vicky bit Gardosik: “He was taken to George Washington hospital after the bite started bleeding,” but recovered.⁹

It is currently unclear when Gardosik retired from the White House, but he was listed on staff there as late as 1973.¹⁰ He passed away in June 1985 and was buried in Saint John Cantius Catholic Church Cemetery in Windber, Somerset County, Pennsylvania.¹¹