William Wendell Garretson

William W. Garretson, 89, died July 1, 2024, in Urbandale, Iowa. Burial in the Salem South Cemetery will take place at 9:30 a.m. on July 15, followed by a memorial service at 2 p.m. at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Des Moines. He was an adventurer, storyteller, scholar and a gentleman.

Bill was born July 1, 1935, in Oklahoma City, OK to Gilbert Issac Garretson and Ethel Elizabeth Van Hon Garretson. The family moved to Mexico City in 1936 and lived there for two years before settling in Laredo, TX. Bill shared many stories of adventures he and his two brothers had in Laredo. His father died in 1941 and in 1945 the family moved to Oakland, CA and then to Stockton, CA. He graduated from Stockton Junior College (high school) in 1953. Following graduation, he took the train to attend Iowa Wesleyan College in Mt. Pleasant. He often said, “I thought I’d died and gone to heaven when I got off the train in Iowa.”

In 1956, Bill graduated from Iowa Wesleyan, married his college sweetheart, Nancy Arland Ross, and they moved to Washington DC. He attended George Washington Law School while working as a civil servant, graduating in August 1959. While in DC, their daughter Carol Jane was born.

In late 1960, Bill and Nancy returned to Iowa where he practiced law for nine years in Fairfield. Sons William Owen and Wendell Ross were born in Fairfield. In December 1969, he accepted a job as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Iowa. He worked as a Court Administrator for Polk County for three years before returning to private practice. He retired in 1999. He loved being an attorney and was a member of the Iowa Bar Association for 64 years, and Torch Club for 50 years.

Bill and Nancy took their children on many vacations to the West to visit national parks. Later, he and Nancy traveled to Europe, Mexico and the Caribbean and enjoyed vacationing on Sanibel Island, Florida with children and grandchildren. Bill was very proud of the Garretson family farm, settled in 1837. In 1996, thanks to the efforts of Bill and his cousin Joel, the farm received official designation from the Iowa Department of Agriculture as Iowa’s Oldest Known Continuously Settled Family Farm. He moved to the Deerfield Retirement Community in late 2021; a special thank you to the staff in Assisted Living and Skilled Care for their kindness and compassion.

He is survived by his children: Carol Jane Galyon (Alex), Ames; William Owen Garretson, Oklahoma City, OK; and Wendell Ross Garretson (Pamala Henning), Cumming; and grandchildren: Andrew Ethan Galyon (Brityn), Richfield, MN; Zachary William Galyon (Kaylee), Seattle, WA; William Kyle Garretson, Oklahoma City, OK; Olivia Grace Galyon, Appleton, WI; and Hannah Grace “Gracie” Garretson, Yukon, OK. He was preceded in death by his wife Nancy in 2021, his brothers Frederick and Gilbert, and his nephew Cornelius. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to St. Luke’s or Lewelling Quaker Museum in Salem, Iowa.

He had a long and happy life which he frequently attributed to “the grace of God, a good wife, and a wee dram of Irish whiskey.” Further affiant sayeth naught.