The Real Della Street, 100, Dies
Desi
By Jack Williams
STAFF WRITER
December 14, 2002
To those who knew her best, Jean Gardner was the real Della Street.
One of three sisters who worked as a secretary to Erle Stanley Gardner,
she served as a model and inspiration for the prolific author's Street
in his series of Perry Mason mystery novels.
"Jean was the perfect secretary," said her brother, Norman Walter.
"People likened her to that Della Street character, but neither she nor
Erle would admit she really was."
Mrs. Gardner, who married her longtime boss less than two years before
he died in 1970, died in her sleep Dec. 5 at her Fallbrook home. She was
100.
"I think he put several girls together," Mrs. Gardner said of the Street
character in a 1990 interview with The San Diego Union. "She was too
perfect for one girl to live up to."
Gardner's novels, beginning with "The Case of the Velvet Claws,"
published in 1933, spawned a popular "Perry Mason" television series
from 1957 to 1966. It starred Raymond Burr as a crime-solving defense
attorney and Barbara Hale as Della Street, his devoted girl Friday.
Mrs. Gardner began working for Gardner in 1923 when he was a partner in
a Ventura law firm. When he left in 1933 to pursue writing full time,
Mrs. Gardner continued as his chief secretary, sharing responsibilities
with others – including her sisters Peggy Downs and Ruth "Honey" Moore.
A relentlessly creative worker, Gardner dictated his plots while his
secretaries took shorthand in shifts. When he wasn't writing under his
own name, he assumed the pseudonym A.A. Fair.
In his extensive travels, which included visits to such far-reaching
destinations as China, he required a secretary to take notes and
dictation.
"He would head north in the summer and south in the winter," Walter
said. For a couple of years, Gardner traveled with his secretaries in
trailers. After discovering Temecula in 1937, he bought a 300-acre ranch
and turned it into his home base.
He had been separated from his first wife, Natalie, for 30 years when
she died in February 1968. Six months later, he married the former Jean
Walter Bethel in Carson City, Nev.
"I guess we had gotten used to each other," Mrs. Gardner told the Union.
Suffering from cancer, Gardner died at 80. But Mrs. Gardner's work was
far from done.
Under her supervision, more than a dozen of his books were published
from 1971 to 1991, five of them featuring Perry Mason.
"Wherever they would travel, Jean would take down notes on all the
scenery and plant life," Walter said. Some of the research found its way
into Gardner's writing.
Mrs. Gardner was born Agnes Helene Walter in Miles City, Mont. She
graduated from high school in Lancaster before moving to Ventura, where
she was a receptionist at the Pierpont Inn when she met Gardner.
When Gardner asked her to work for him, she suggested her sister, Peggy,
instead. Eventually, she followed her sister onto Gardner's staff. Her
other sister joined later.
Mrs. Gardner married a firefighter, Les Bethel, early in her secretarial
career. The marriage ended in divorce, Walter said.
"Jean was dedicated to her job," he said. "She was loyal and wanted to
do it as well as she could. She could also put out a fine meal."
As a young woman, Mrs. Gardner won honors in archery in Washington
state.
Her sisters both died in their 90s, said Walter, a Fallbrook resident
and her only survivor.
A memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. today at Jehovah's Witnesses
Kingdom Hall, Fallbrook.
Michael Lonergan
"Desi" <de...@cts.com> wrote in message
news:VJKK9.5955$lg1.1...@dca1-nnrp1.news.algx.net...
>
> By Jack Williams
> STAFF WRITER
>
> December 14, 2002
>
>
> To those who knew her best, Jean Gardner was the real Della Street.
>
> One of three sisters who worked as a secretary to Erle Stanley Gardner,
> she served as a model and inspiration for the prolific author's Street
> in his series of Perry Mason mystery novels.
>
> "Jean was the perfect secretary," said her brother, Norman Walter.
> "People likened her to that Della Street character, but neither she nor
> Erle would admit she really was."
Thanks for the story Desi.
Michael
Patty
> STAFF WRITER
>
> December 14, 2002
>
>
> To those who knew her best, Jean Gardner was the real Della Street.
>
> One of three sisters who worked as a secretary to Erle Stanley Gardner,
> she served as a model and inspiration for the prolific author's Street
> in his series of Perry Mason mystery novels.
>
> "Jean was the perfect secretary," said her brother, Norman Walter.
> "People likened her to that Della Street character, but neither she nor
> Erle would admit she really was."
>
> Mrs. Gardner, who married her longtime boss less than two years before
> he died in 1970, died in her sleep Dec. 5 at her Fallbrook home. She was
> 100.
>
> He had been separated from his first wife, Natalie, for 30 years when
> she died in February 1968. Six months later, he married the former Jean
> Walter Bethel in Carson City, Nev.
>
> "I guess we had gotten used to each other," Mrs. Gardner told the Union.
>
> Suffering from cancer, Gardner died at 80. But Mrs. Gardner's work was
> far from done.
I wonder why he didn't divorce his wife earlier to marry his secretary.
>
> A memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. today at Jehovah's Witnesses
> Kingdom Hall, Fallbrook.
I wonder if she was a Jehovah's Witness when she was knew Erle Gardner.
Patty
JC
"Patty" <eartha...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:f0e77308.0212...@posting.google.com...
> "Desi" <de...@cts.com> wrote in message
news:<VJKK9.5955$lg1.1...@dca1-nnrp1.news.algx.net>...
> > By Jack Williams
> > STAFF WRITER
> >
> > December 14, 2002
> >
> >
> > To those who knew her best, Jean Gardner was the real Della Street.
> >
> > One of three sisters who worked as a secretary to Erle Stanley Gardner,
> > she served as a model and inspiration for the prolific author's Street
> > in his series of Perry Mason mystery novels.
> >
> > "Jean was the perfect secretary," said her brother, Norman Walter.
> > "People likened her to that Della Street character, but neither she nor
> > Erle would admit she really was."
> >
> > Mrs. Gardner, who married her longtime boss less than two years before
> > he died in 1970, died in her sleep Dec. 5 at her Fallbrook home. She was
> > 100.
>
> >
> > He had been separated from his first wife, Natalie, for 30 years when
> > she died in February 1968. Six months later, he married the former Jean
> > Walter Bethel in Carson City, Nev.
> >
> > "I guess we had gotten used to each other," Mrs. Gardner told the Union.
> >
> > Suffering from cancer, Gardner died at 80. But Mrs. Gardner's work was
> > far from done.
>
> I wonder why he didn't divorce his wife earlier to marry his secretary.
I thought maybe he, or more likely his wife, might be Catholic? Sort of like
the marital situation was with Spencer Tracy and his wife? And other less
well known people of that era?
JC
Nancy Rudins
I'll tag onto Michael's post to add my thanks. I never read
any of the books but I watched the series and movies.
Kind regards,
Nancy
--
Nancy Rudins nru...@ncsa.uiuc.edu
http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/People/nrudins/
Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall.