Cenus "Frankie" Frances Garrick

COLUMBIA - Cenus Frances “Frankie” Leverette Garrick, widow of the late Lonnie Eugene Garrick, Jr., died peacefully Thursday, July 1, 2021, at age 100 at her home in Forest Acres, SC, where she had resided since 1946.

The family will gather for visitation at Dunbar Funeral Home, Devine Street Chapel on Tuesday, July 20, 2021, from 10:00-11:00 a.m., with burial following in Elmwood Cemetery.

Born March 11, 1921, in LaFayette, AL, Frankie was the daughter of the late John Thomas Leverette and Izora Jane Lamb Coggins Leverette.

After graduation from LaFayette High School, Frankie attended Crichton's Business School in Atlanta, GA, while working in Lane Drug Stores Accounting Department. After completing business school, she attended the University of Georgia Evening College and worked for the Army General Depot in Conyers, GA.

A call from Newport, RI, changed all her plans. The young man whom she had been dating in Atlanta was now in the Naval Torpedo School in Newport and wanted her to travel to Newport for them to be married. Frankie and Lonnie were married at the First Presbyterian Church in Newport, on September 14, 1942. When his new military orders came, he had been retained in the Research Division of the Naval Torpedo School. They lived in Rhode Island for the duration of World War II, moved back to Columbia, SC, in December 1945, and made Columbia their permanent home.

Frankie joined Lonnie, a native of Columbia, in his lifetime membership at Washington Street United Methodist Church. There she shared her time and talents working in the mission work of the United Methodist Women, adult Sunday School activities, and teaching ninth and tenth grade Sunday School as well as all youth activities.

Other activities included president of Child Study Group of Columbia, PTA President, Boy Scout Den Leader, guardian ad litem for foster children and Pink Lady at Richland Memorial Hospital.

Frankie was trained by the United Methodist Church to become a national certified Lay Leader of Youth and Adults. This led her to training groups of youth and youth leaders in and out of state, using ways that involved the youth in their own learning.

A favorite of both parents and senior high teens was a workshop Frankie crafted on “The Stewardship of the Car.” The course emphasized the development of a sense of responsibility in the use of the automobile. Her leadership in this course led her to present it at many churches in South Carolina and at least eight other states across the nation. She also pioneered “Born Free Stay Free,” a weekend workshop for parents and senior high youth on drug and alcohol abuse and prevention.

Frankie worked at the voting polls for many years. She was a card-carrying Honorary Navigator of the Continental Navy for having been in the first group of women riding on the turn-around cruise of the USS Constitution, “Old Ironsides,” in Boston in 1972. She enjoyed being an honorary member of Hatiola Hunt Club beginning in 2011.

Frankie and Lonnie were married for thirty-eight years and all four of their children were baptized and grew up at Washington Street United Methodist Church. Several years after Lonnie's death, Frankie moved her membership to Trenholm Road United Methodist Church in Forest Acres and continued her youth work in teaching Sunday School for ninth and tenth graders. She worked with the associate minister in training Stephen Ministers for six years. This ministry uses caregivers to provide quality and confidential care to people who are hurting. Frankie was a faithful member of the Madge Major Circle at Trenholm Road for twenty-six years and was a member of the Contemporary Issues Sunday School class. She was named the United Methodist Woman of the Year in 2009.

She continued gardening and for over fifteen years had a display of Evening Primroses blooming in her garden. At sundown in late May through early June these beautiful flowers would start opening after the sepal holding the bud would pop open and the flower would slowly unfold. Friends, neighbors, and strangers would visit her garden and watch several hundred blooms open within 25 minutes. Seeing nature at work through these primroses is a very moving experience as they shine with a golden luminous glow throughout the night.

Most recently, and for the past several years, she had become a mentor and example to many who paid attention and followed her daily mile and a half walking exercises at Eastminster Presbyterian Christian Life Center.

Frankie was preceded in death by her husband, Lonnie Eugene Garrick, Jr. in 1980; their first born son, John Evans Garrick in 1944 in Providence, RI; her brother, Conrad Ernest Leverette in LaFayette, AL.; her son-in-law, James “Jim” Richard Dyke and her youngest son, Frederick “Fred” Evans Garrick in 2018 of Greer, S.C. Surviving are her daughter, Jane Marie Garrick Valenta Dyke and grandson, Frank Louis “Trey” Valenta III, married to Angie Strang Valenta of Seattle, Wash. and their children, Mae Frances Valenta, Alec Middlebrook Valenta and Owen Keith Valenta and former son-in-law, Val Valenta, Megan Stewart (Eric Helton) and grandson, Michael Middlebrook Valenta and his wife, Holly Whitely Valenta of Lafayette, Co.; son, Thomas “Tom” Eugene Garrick of Johns Island, S.C., married to Cristina Minami Garrick and his sons, Jason Minto Garrick of Atlanta, Ga., married to Albina Kisamova Garrick and Christopher Tait Garrick (Jessica) of Savannah, Ga.; son, Francis “Frank” LeRoy Garrick of Columbia, S.C., married to Katherine Lott Garrick and their sons, Matthew Hamilton Garrick, married to Jade Ho and their new child, Ben Raymond Garrick in Singapore and Christopher Lott Garrick of Columbia, S.C.; daughter-in-law, Carol Cockrell Garrick of Evans, Ga. and grandson, Justin Cockrell Garrick of Evans, Ga., married to Crystal Streuber Garrick and their children, Connor Justin Garrick and Amelia Katherine Garrick.

Memorials may be made to Trenholm Road United Methodist Church in Columbia, or the charity of your choosing.

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