John C. Garth

Memorial services for former County Judge John Garth will be held at 2:00 PM Saturday, May 10, 2008 at First Baptist Church, 102 W. Barton in Temple. Officiating will be his longtime personal friends, the Rev. Michael Brandes and the Rev. Roscoe Harrison. Honorary pallbearers will be Ben Barton, Billy Bryan, Bill Ferguson, Joel Garrison, Bill Gibson, Joe Mack Laird, Wayne Smith, John Roark, Jack Shumake and Frank Turner. An informal reception will follow at the Temple Elks Lodge, 2613 Airport Road. Judge Garth died Tuesday, May 6, 2008 at home following a lengthy battle with colon cancer. He was born in Temple on July 26, 1943, to Sam Garth, Jr. and Verna Lee Canuteson Garth. He was a 1961 Temple High graduate and attended Temple College and later earned a bachelor's degree in education and worked on a master's degree in political science, both at North Texas State University. A former classroom teacher and school principal, Garth served two decades as Bell County judge, from 1979 to 1999. He oversaw the county government's ambitious building program and transformation to a progressive style of leadership, creating multi-cultural teams to improve the quality of life for Bell County citizens. He was honored on April 7 for his vision in creating the Bell County Expo Center in 1987. However, he took personal pride in his efforts to preserve the county's water supplies through 2040 and the creation of the video education technology. Bell County has been a leader in both issues. Among the contributions and innovations initiated under Garth's watch as county judge were the Bell County Expo Center; water resources to fill the county's needs until 2040; BellNet video education technology; centralized 9-1-1 dispatch system; Bell County Law Enforcement Center; 64-bed Juvenile Detention Center; $4 million renovation and rehabilitation of the 1885 Bell County Courthouse; Bell County Museum, created from the 1904 Belton Carnegie Library; Children's Advocacy Center; Temple and Killeen HELP Centers to assist families to help persons to access social service agencies. After retirement, he focused on family and friends. Survivors include his wife, Becky Garth and their children, Elizabeth Garth, and her daughters, Caroline, Haley and Georgia, all of Temple; Travis Garth and his fiancé Stephanie Donnelly, her three children Grace, Allison and Sydney, all of Highland Village; and John Garth, Jr. and his wife, Erin, and daughter Lily, all of San Diego, Calif. The Garth family has requested in lieu of flowers that donations be made to Bell County Museum, 201 N. Main, Belton, TX 76513; or the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Research Center, P.O. Box 4486, Houston, TX 77210-4486, Colon Cancer Research, or online at www.mdanderson.org/devoffice.