Matilda Mae (affectionately called Tillie in her younger days) was born July 21st 1879 in the little town of Mendon, in Cache County, Utah, to Henry F. Gardner and Mary Walker. She was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Alfred Gardner, a Church Elder, on September 5, 1887. A Patriarchal Blessing was bestowed upon Matilda Mae at the age of 31 by Patriarch J. A. Quibell at Rock Springs, in the state of Wyoming. 

As a young lady in her early twenties, Matilda Mae went to Idaho to visit her very close friend Sally Larsen (more commonly known later by the family as Aunt Sally.) This was at the turn of the century when a Mr. H. O. Harkness was at the top of his business successes in the very thriving city of McCammon in Bannock County. While visiting in Idaho, Matilda Mae acquired many friends in McCammon and soon became governess for the Harkness children and thus remained for some time. While in McCammon Matilda Mae was honored by being selected queen of a July 4th celebration and was photographed in the splendor of her costume and staff on the stage of McCammon’s then famous Opera House. One of Mr. Harkness’s many enterprises was a mercantile business in McCammon and in his employ was a young man by the name of Harry F. Bassett from Gentile Valley in Bannock County, where his father was in the general mercantile business. Matilda Mae and Harry soon became friends and on January 4, 1906 at Mendon, Utah, they were married in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Elder Alfred Gardner. This marriage was later solemnized in the Logan Temple in the year of 1925. 

The Bassetts remained in McCammon until 1909 and there to this marriage was born two children; a daughter Lois Marette and a son Henry Freeman. The family then moved to Rock Springs, Wyoming where Harry was employed by the Gunn-Qualey Coal Company in their commissary department. In Rock Springs on November 2, 1909 they were blessed with the birth of another daughter, Glenys Mary. In the year of 1911 the family moved back to Bannock County, Idaho to a small community five miles south of Grace, called Niter. Here they bought a ranch and operated it and a small general merchandise store and U.S. Post Office continued there through the World War I years until 1919. 

In Niter, Matilda Mae and Harry were again blessed with more children, a daughter Maxine Adelia, October 1, 1912, a daughter Alice Mae, December 11, 1915, and a son, Russel Gardner on August 5, 1917. It was the span of years here at Niter that brought forth Matilda Mae’s full strength and courage and unremitting faith. The austerity of the War years starting in 1917, the great national flu epidemic of 1918 when Matilda Mae became an angel of Mercy attending the sick and dying, and the first real tragedy suffered by Matilda Mae and Harry in the sudden death of pneumonia of their daughter Maxine. Both the mercantile business and the farm operation were unprofitable during the war and the depression that followed resulting in the loss of all holdings at Niter in 1919. The family then moved five miles further south in Bannock County to a community called Lago, where Harry joined his father, William H. Bassett in the general merchandising business. The family remained in Lago until 1926. 

While in Lago the family began to mature and the family fortunes seemed to greatly improve. The Bassetts acquired their first automobile (a Model T.) Lois and Henry finished High School, Lois attended college in Pocatello, another daughter, Helen Fronie, was born April 1, 1921, and here Matilda Mae became deeply involved in her Church serving in many capacities and her greatest joy being a member of the Primary Stake Board and Bannock Stake Relief Society. The mercantile business thrived until about 1925 when automobiles and highways both improved and super markets appeared in nearby towns and many Bassett customers began to dwindle and the end of the large rural mercantile store was in sight. In 1926 the family moved to Pocatello, where Harry became employed as a special agent for the Union Pacific Railroad Company. On December 4, 1926, Matilda Mae and Harry were blessed with their eighth child, a son, William K. 

Life in the city (a college town) with a family of seven children presented new challenges and a few problems. Matilda Mae met them all. She employed her sewing skills to keep her daughters in style, took in boarders to assist with the family expenses and the cost of buying a home and keeping the family together through the depression years. Matilda Mae was intensely patriotic, through the World War II years, she worked for Fargo’s department store, bought War Bonds and provided a home-away-from-home for many servicemen and women then stationed at the Pocatello Air Base. At the same time she continued her church activity, became an active member of the Republican Party, served as precinct registrar, and her membership in the Society of Daughters of Utah Pioneers. 

By the end of the 1940’s all the children were married and living in scattered areas of the country and in Europe. In 1954 Harry passed away in Las Vegas, Nevada following surgery there for a perforated stomach ulcer. Services were held in Pocatello, a burial was in Mountain View Cemetery. Matilda Mae continued living in Pocatello and in 1958 she rented the 133 South Hayes property and purchased a small comfortable home at 835 East Benton. Her few remaining years were enjoyable for she loved to travel and she was now able to visit her son Bill in Washington D.C., in Texas, and in Germany; her daughters Glenys and Alice in Menlo Park, California; her daughter Helen in Las Vegas, her son Russel in Eugene, Oregon, and daughter Lois at Lake Oswego, Oregon. She loved to fly and made many visiting trips. 

Matilda Mae’s twilight years were to end all too soon. Although living alone she did find great joy and comfort in her family, her travels and in continued affiliation and activity in the Church, in public and political affairs, and in her memberships in the Golden Age Club and The Society of Daughters of Utah Pioneers. 

In 1961 with great suddenness a swelling appeared in Matilda Mae’s throat. On July 5th, she entered Pocatello’s Bannock Memorial Hospital where a radical neck dissection was performed by Dr. Melvin Graves. Following surgery it was a severe shock to learn the growth was malignant and that Matilda Mae’s further life expectancy was limited to approximately one year. She recovered very well from the surgery but was then compelled to undergo continuous chemical therapy in an attempt to arrest the malignancy. The therapy sessions became burdensome and painful but Matilda Mae continued in her faith and refused to give up. It was all to no avail, the therapy failed and on an early predawn hour of February 8, 1962 the courageous and purposeful life of a beautiful bride and an inspiring loving mother came to an end. A memorable service was held in Pocatello’s Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Second Ward Church and Matilda Mae Gardner Bassett was laid to rest with Harry in Mountain View Cemetery. She is not forgotten, nor will she ever be, as long as life and memory last.