Bernard John Garrett, 1912-1989

The Rev. B.J. Garrett was born July 26, 1912, in South Zanesville, Ohio, to John Joseph and Edith (Jones) Garrett. He was the oldest of three sons and one daughter. He claimed to have been born "in a log house which I helped my father build." He married Pauline Smith and had two children: Marjorie Ann and Daniel Lee.

He was educated at Muskingum College, Otterbein College, and The American University. In 1941, he was ordained deacon and, in 1945, elder in the Free Methodist Church. He served five appointments in that denomination prior to transferring to the Virginia conference of The Methodist Church in 1955. He served St. Mark's (Manassas), Thalia, Trinity (Petersburg), Cameron, Del Ray, and West End (Roanoke) where he retired in 1981.

His wife, Pauline, died in February, 1979, after a long illness. He married Josephine Carter and lived in Roanoke until her death in July 1985. His remaining years were spent in Berryville with his son, Dan, and daughter-in-law, Susan, and their family, where he gladly and creatively carried the title "chief cook and bottle washer." He was an active participant in the Duncan Memorial congregation and the Berryville community. He was an avid gardener, and craftsman in wood and metal.

B.J. loved to preach, teach, and visit the sick. He had a ready wit and optimism that were apparent to all he met. An evangelical heart and catholic spirit characterized his life and ministry. He never lost the capacity to laugh, even in the face of the most sobering circumstances.

There is nothing funny about dying with cancer. But he had that rare capacity to live with illness and to maintain a saving sense of the absurdity of things that allows one family to laugh at it all. One day as I was leaving the house to play golf, he said, "You know, I have what every golfer aspires to -- I'm under par all the time!" On one of our weekly trips to the Cancer Center in Winchester, the nurses greeted him and asked how he was doing. "I'm fine," he said, "Haven't been probated yet!" He gave us all permission to laugh. He led the way and it eased our fears and burdens.

It's a great gift -- this laughter. His was born of a faith that took God seriously enough that nothing else need claim ultimacy. He could sing with Martin Luther: "let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also." One can afford to laugh, when the depths of God are seen as grace-filled and sufficient. One can only really laugh at oneself when the hurts and injustices that others face are taken with the utmost seriousness and urgency. He spent his life walking on the heavy side of the struggles and pains of parishioners in 11 different congregations, He walked as a man of hope: acquainted with the grief and sorrow, but with an irrepressible humor that lightened the load.

On October 9, 1989, Dr. Thomas L. Coffman and Chaplain Wilfred H. Berman led the congregation at Berryville in a service of death and resurrection. We joined in the hymns, readings, prayers and actions of the eucharistic liturgy that he so loved. In thanksgiving to God for a faithful life, we commended him to God's eternal care in the words of The Book of Common Prayer:

Depart, O Christian soul, out of this world:

In the name of God the Father Almighty who created you;

In the name of Jesus Christ who redeemed you;

In the name of the Holy Spirit who sanctifies you.
May your rest be this day in peace,

  and your dwelling place in the Paradise of God.

-Daniel L. Garrett