Family life frames Gardella's busy life and career. He and his wife, Carol A. Kizis, information service database coordinator at the National Center for Earthquake Engineering Research, headquartered at UB, have two children adopted from Korea, Claire, five, and Joseph, 18 months. Claire has cerebral palsy, so the family must take special time with her, working on language acquisition and motor skills, as she prepares to enter kindergarten in the fall. She plays her toy piano and works with Touch-Talker pre-programmed statements that allow her to communicate basic requests, such as "I want to watch TV with Daddy." Joseph is a whirling dervish, playing hide-and-seek with our photographer, stopping in his rapid tour of the living room only to flash a magical grin.