Ann Elizabeth Garrison

Ann Elizabeth Garrison died March 2, 2015 in Duluth, Minnesota, ending a long and passionate love affair with music, art, beauty, education and family. She was born on November 10, 1925, to Betty and Benjamin Francis in Hendersonville, North Carolina, the eldest of four children. Her love of learning began at a young age, attending boarding school in Tallulah Falls, Georgia. After graduating high school, Annie Francis attended Berry College, in Rome, Georgia then Piedmont College, in Demorest, Georgia, where she was awarded a B.A. degree in 1946 and sang the vocal solo at the commencement ceremony. She continued a passion for higher education attending, and earning Master’s degrees in education at Southwest Missouri State College (now Missouri State University) in 1948 and at the University of Kansas in 1963.

Ann married another education student, Ellis Garrison, on March 3, 1948, and they both embarked on careers in education, teaching together at Everton, Missouri and at Marshfield, Missouri, before settling into the Shawnee Mission School District in Johnson County, Kansas, where Ann taught second and third grade for nearly 30 years. Early in her career, Ann also taught music and drama, twice winning first place in a Missouri statewide drama competition. After retirement from teaching, Ann began a second 30 year career in the antique and flea market business, buying, selling, haggling and enjoying the constant interaction with others. In her later years, she played cards, made bead and silver jewelry, played cards, played more cards and loved to draw whatever was beautiful and whoever was willing to sit still for a while. Ann never lost the passion with which she interacted with life and, although dementia slowly took her memory, to her it only meant that she got to see, hear, learn and do some things all over again.

Ann is survived by her husband of 67 years, Ellis Garrison, her son, Ronald Garrison, and wife, Ann Garrison, of Olathe, Kansas, her daughter, Leslie Holck, and husband David Holck, of Duluth, Minnesota, four grandchildren, three great grandchildren, a brother, Ben Francis, of Elberton Georgia, and a sister, Jo Gallo of Mercier, Quebec, Canada. She was preceded in death by a sister, Phoebe Riek.

Ann was a member of Holmeswood Baptist Church, 9700 Holmes Road, Kansas City, Missouri, where a visitation will be held on Saturday, March 7, 2015 at 1:00 p.m., followed by a service at 2:00 p.m. Funeral services are provided by McGilley and Frye, of Olathe, Kansas. In lieu of flowers, please send memorial contributions to the Alzheimers Association.