Hilton Head chef and baker behind landmark Signe’s Heaven Bound dies on Christmas morning
Legendary Hilton Head baker and chef Signe Gardo died on Christmas morning at The Preston Health Center at The Cypress, where she was recuperating from a heart issue.
She was 82.
Gardo had retired and closed Signe’s Heaven Bound Bakery and Cafe, located along Arrow Road, at the end of 2022. Earlier that year, Signe’s marked its 50th year in business. At the time, it was believed to be the longest-running restaurant with a single owner on Hilton Head.
In retirement, she had been working on a cookbook.
Over the course of her career, her family estimated she made around 4,000 wedding cakes and worked with around 2,000 employees. She worked from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. six days a week serving breakfast and lunch in her cafe and preparing take-home dinners customers could pick up.
“She worked from 7 o’clock in the morning until 7 o’clock at night, six days a week, for 50 years. It was a labor of love. The key thing is that she loved what she was doing,” said her husband of 45 years, Tom Gardo of Hilton Head.
In 2012, Signe Gardo told The Island Packet she saw her work as a calling.
“It’s more than baking cookies,” she told the newspaper. “I am doing what I was created to do.”
Ten years later, in 2022, her sentiments had not changed when she explained that she was happiest in the kitchen.
“It’s in me. It’s just in me to do this,” she said at the time. “When you’re gifted to do something and you want to do that, you are fulfilled. If you’re doing something that doesn’t bring that, it’s not your gift. It will wear you out. You’ll burn out.”
She had moved to Hilton Head in 1966 with her former husband, Franz Meier. Meier had been hired by Charles Fraser at Sea Pines to bring upscale, European-influenced dining to Hilton Head and was maitre d’ at the Plantation Club.
Signe opened Signe’s World deli in a former lighthouse keeper’s cottage at Harbour Town on Aug. 11, 1972. Her wares included healthy breads, fine wines, imported beers, sandwiches and homemade cookies.
She moved to the Arrow Road location in 1984 and renamed the business Signe’s Heaven Bound Bakery and Cafe.
Signe’s served generations of customers, a few celebrities among them. The bakery was a regular stop for golf greats Johnny Miller and Tom Watson, as well as tennis superstars Martina Navratilova, Evonne Goolagong and Chris Evert. In 2004, Rachael Ray featured Signe’s deep-dish blueberry French toast on her Food Network show.
She supplied desserts to the Ruby Tuesday chain in its early days.
In addition to her husband, survivors include her daughter Silja Burns of Bluffton and step-daughters Michelle Mattingly of Atlanta and Jessica Maples of Hilton Head.
A funeral is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 6, at Christian Renewal Church on Hilton Head.
This story was originally published December 26, 2023 at 4:37 PM.
