Obituary of Mary Garnett

MARION, VIRGINIA: MARY LOU GARNETT, age 96, Longtime Marion resident, died June 16, 2015, at Salisbury, Md., following an extended illness. Mary Lou was born Oct. 3, 1918, on a family farm at Ivanhoe, Texas, the first of four children to Alonzo L. and Clella P. Jackson. She graduated from Dallas Commercial College in 1940. In 1942 at a U.S.O. function, she met Robert "Bob" Garnett of Marion, then on active duty with the U.S. Navy. They married April 3, 1943, at Hampton, Va., in the home of Bob's sister, Irene Farster. The couple resided at Yorktown until 1944, when Bob was posted to duty in the Pacific. After the war, they lived at Richmond, returning to Marion in 1948 when Bob was elected cashier at his pre-war employer, The Bank of Marion. Mary Lou worked for the Smyth County Court Office and the U.S. Forest Service, retiring in 1979. She was an active member of the First United Methodist Church, Wilderness Road Garden Club and Snitch and Stitch Sewing Circle. She volunteered at Smyth County Community Hospital for more than 15 years. Mary Lou never let anything go to waste, often repairing and refinishing discarded furniture. While living next to Rose Lawn Cemetery at Mount Carmel, she collected artificial flowers which blew against her fence, reusing them in arrangements for the hospital gift shop. She was a fan of poet Dorothy Parker, artist Norman Rockwell and humorist Will Rogers. The many snippets of wisdom held by her refrigerator magnets included "There is no limit to what can be accomplished if it doesn't matter who gets the credit" and "Old age is not for sissies". Following Bob's death in 1997, she laughingly complained, "I'm always needing someone to hold the other end of something". In 2007, Mary Lou moved into assisted living at Salisbury, Md., near her daughter Susan Garnett Copenhaver. She is predeceased by her husband of 54 years, Robert S. "Bob" Garnett; sister Jane Jackson Cooper of Houston, Tx.; and brothers William Jackson of Tyler, Tx. and Lewis Jackson of Dallas, Tx. Mary Lou is survived by daughter Mary Susan Garnett Copenhaver and son-in-law Peter Sherrer Copenhaver of Berlin, Md.; son Robert Lewis Garnett and daughter-in-law Renee W. Anderson of Winston-Salem, N.C.; and grandsons Thomas G. Copenhaver of Girdletree, Md., J. Robert Copenhaver of Ocean City, Md., and Zachary B. Anderson of Winston-Salem, N.C. A memorial service will be held Saturday, October 3, 2015 at 11 a.m. at Rose Lawn Mausoleum, Marion, Va. where her ashes will be interred with her husband. Donations may be made to the Alzheimer's Association online at alz.org or by mail to P.O. Box 96011, Washington D.C. 20090-6011. Expressions of sympathy may be made to the family at www.seaverbrown.com or sent to Susan Copenhaver, 67 Battersea, Berlin, Md. 21811. Seaver-Brown Funeral Services and Crematory is honored to serve the Garnett Family.