Joan Martine Kelly Garrison

Joan Martine Kelly Garrison, 97, of Tampa, died Thursday, 1 September 2022. The first child of Lewis Dayne Kelly and Margaret Josephine Cross Kelly, she was born in Plainfield, NJ on 17 August 1925. She was a 1943 graduate of Scotch Plains High School, NJ, and she later attended many of her class’s annual reunions. While a student at William & Mary College in Williamsburg, VA, she met Ernest Martin Garrison of Hampton, VA, and they married in Plainfield in 1948. The couple resided in Hampton and had two children: Amy Lee and Dayne Carl. In 1963, the family moved to Tampa and lived on Davis Islands. Mrs. Garrison earned a degree in education at the University of Tampa in 1970 and taught at Chiaramonte Joan Martine Kelly Garrison, 97, of Tampa, died Thursday, 1 September 2022. The first child of Lewis Dayne Kelly and Margaret Josephine Cross Kelly, she was born in Plainfield, NJ on 17 August 1925. She was a 1943 graduate of Scotch Plains High School, NJ, and she later attended many of her class's annual reunions. She then attended William & Mary College in Williamsburg, VA, where she was a Kappa Delta, and where she met Ernest Martin Garrison of Hampton, VA. They married in Plainfield in 1948. The couple resided in Hampton and had two children: Amy Lee and Dayne Carl. In 1963, the family moved to Tampa and lived on Davis Islands. Mrs. Garrison earned a degree in education at the University of Tampa in 1970 and taught at Chiaramonte Elementary School for ten years. Always civically and socially active, Mrs. Garrison served as a docent and patron for the Tampa Museum of Art, a Red Cross Angel, an altar guild member at Hyde Park United Methodist Church, a keen member of the University of Tampa's Chiselers, a committee chair for the Davis Islands Garden Club, and a Master Flower Show Judge and the Recording Secretary for the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs. She and her husband also enjoyed many events at Palma Ceia Country Club, the University Club, and the Krewe of Venus, of which they were charter members. After Mr. Garrison died in 1997, she moved to a condominium in The Stovall and continued her many activities. In 2002, she married Owen Thomas Brewer, Jr., a retired U.S. Air Force officer, and they embarked on numerous domestic and overseas travels. They moved to Discovery Village Westchase in 2019, and Major Brewer died on 24 June this year. Mrs. Garrison considered herself to have been blessed with two very happy marriages. She is survived by her daughter Amy Garrison and son-in-law Thomas Emmett, both retired Navy officers in Newport, RI, and her sisters Noreen Kelly VanDuzer of Palo Alto, CA, Linda Kelly Ward of Bridgeton, NJ, and Diane Kelly Cowen of Santa Rosa, CA. She was predeceased by her husbands, her parents, and her son.

Blount & Curry Funeral Home - MacDill is handling funeral arrangements. A graveside service at Myrtle Hill Cemetery will be held at 10 a.m., on Wednesday, 7 September 2022, the Reverend Bernie Lieving presiding. www.blountcurrymacdill.com