Ronald "Ron" Arthur Garrett

Ron grew up in Downey, where his father, Andrew Bartley Garrett (“Baker”), was a baker at the County Farm in Downey. Gertrude worked as a seamstress and together they raised Ron and his older half-sister Kathleen. Ron attended Compton High School where he was a star gymnast and always worked at least one job, from a full-service gas station attendant and mechanic, to setting bowling pins during the night shift. His paychecks went toward raising tumbler pigeons and a progression of cars that he’d repair and cherry out, only to sell for newer models. After high school Ron worked for Union Pacific Railroad in Los Angeles until enlisting in the Air Force in 1951, the same year he married his first wife Joyce Margaret Cope.

Ron’s career in the Air Force started as a gunnery instructor, but a back problem necessitated a transfer to Flight Planning and Logistics. While stationed at Lowry Air Force Base, near Denver, Ron and Joyce had their first two children, Kenneth Jeffery (1952) and Laurie Ann (1954). In 1955, Ron took an assignment at Spangdahlem Air Force Base in Germany, bringing his young family with him. In 1958, their youngest child, Jameson Arthur, was born in Bitburg. The family took numerous camping expeditions across Europe during Ron’s vacations. Ron couldn’t believe his luck in getting his next assignment in 1959 at Long Beach Air Force Base where the family bought a house in Lakewood, a mere 14 miles from Downey. But after just one year, a colonel he never met selected him to be stationed at Selfridge Air Force Base, near Utica in 1960. Within three years, Ron maneuvered another career change to Manpower Engineering and received a transfer to Ellington Air Force Base, Houston, TX in 1963. After four years of Houston heat, Ron applied for another “overseas” assignment and got Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage, AK in 1967 where the family stayed for five years before Ron got his final and favorite assignment in 1972 at Space and Missile Systems Organization (SAMSO) (now Space Systems Command) at Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo. Ron and Joyce lived in Rancho Palos Verdes until they divorced in 1975. Then, Ron moved to San Pedro with his youngest son, and after Jameson graduated high school, Ron bought a home in Downey just five miles from where he was born and raised, helping care for his mother until her passing in 1991. Ron retired from the Air Force in 1977 as a Chief Master Sergeant, only to be recruited back as a civilian two years later. In 1990 Ron retired from the Air Force a second time as a GS-15 (equivalent to Lt. Colonel).

Ron met Susan Spencer at a Parents Without Partners meeting who, like him. loved to dance. They were married in 1995. Ron returned to his love of birds and Sue got hooked, too. They traveled around the country and the world birding, often with binoculars and cameras around their necks, making wonderful memories along the way. Perhaps their favorite trips were in Europe which had changed so much since Ron left in 1959. Along with being an avid birder, Ron was a bodysurfer, runner, gardener, handyman par excellence, and he loved football games and eating large bowls of ice cream.

Ron is survived by his loving wife Susan; children Kenneth, Laurie and Jameson; stepchildren, Gayle and Landon; seven grandchildren, and four great grandchildren.

A memorial service for Ronald will be held Wednesday, March 16, 2022 from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM at Miller Mies Downey Mortuary, 10229 Paramount Blvd, Downey, California 90241.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.millermiesdowneymortuary.com for the Garrett family.