Shirley T.F. Garrett
Shirley Theodora Ford Garrett, who spent her childhood summers in Sag Harbor and retired there in 1996, died at home on Oct. 16. She was 81 and had had Parkinson’s disease for about three years.
Mrs. Garrett was close to her sister, Marian Ford Pryce of Sag Harbor, who affectionately called her “the volunteer of America” this week. She was a familiar face at the food pantry of St. Ann’s Episcopal Church in Bridgehampton, the Animal Rescue Fund thrift shop, and the Retired Senior Volunteer Program, whose members look out for older people living alone.
She also volunteered at the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter, calling it a way to keep “in tune with young people . . . a lively experience,” when she and Mrs. Pryce were interviewed for “Voices of Sag Harbor: A Village Remembered,” a 2007 book of more than 80 reminiscences. The two have a chapter all to themselves in the book, called “The Ford Sisters,” in which they recall their childhood summers on Liberty Street with their great-grandmother Theodosia Jordan. The sisters remembered eating a lot of fish caught by their father and grandfather, sometimes frying it up right on the beach, and picking blueberries.
Mrs. Garrett was a lay Episcopal minister at St. Ann’s, where she not only helped administer the sacrament but also read. She was also the corresponding secretary of the Eastville Historical Society and gave tours for the society of local landmarks. “I see volunteering as a way of helping others and thereby enriching my life,” she said in “Voices of Sag Harbor.”
She was born on Nov. 24, 1935, in Queens, one of three children and the second daughter of Theodore Nathaniel Ford and the former Edith Williams. She took business classes on weekends while a student at Jamaica High School in Queens and later attended Baruch College. A great traveler, she visited several countries in Europe with friends during two summer vacations; later, she and Mrs. Pryce made frequent trips to the Caribbean.
Mrs. Garrett’s first job was with the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in New York City. After marrying Wendell Raymond Garrett Sr., she moved with him to Wappingers Falls, N.Y., where she worked for IBM. The company transferred her to Boulder, Colo., just about when the Garretts divorced, and she moved to Boulder with their son, Wendell Garrett Jr., who was about 10. She became an export analyst for IBM, making sure that its computers ordered by other countries met all shipping and procedural regulations and that her counterpart at the other end was there to receive the shipment. This gave her contacts all over the world, especially in Italy, many of whom stayed in touch with her for the rest of her life.
The Rev. Timothy Lewis officiated at a memorial Mass held at St. Ann’s on Saturday, and blessed her ashes, which are with her sister and will be dispersed at a later date. In addition to her sister and her son, both of Sag Harbor, Mrs. Garrett is survived by a brother, Theodore Ford of Queens, and two grandchildren.
The family has suggested donations in her memory for the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation, 1359 Broadway, Suite 1509, New York 10018, or the Eastville Community Historical Society, P.O. Box 2036, Sag Harbor 11963.