preceded in death by her parents H. Belle (Watson) and Rev. Edward Murphy as well as her
sisters Annie Belle Murphy, Edna Yarborough, Lila Murphy and brother Edward Murphy. Eleanor
departed this life on August 1, 2019. Her husband Edward Garnett, Jr. died in 2009.
Eleanor spent her early life in Louisburg, N.C. She was sent to boarding school in
Lawrenceville, VA after the death of her father. She graduated from St. Paul’s College in
Lawrenceville, VA in 1950 with a degree in Biology and minor in cosmetology. She relocated to
Washington DC joining her siblings. She secured a job with the D.C. Public Schools teaching
biology. She switched to the Department of Human Services in 1954 working at Cedar Knoll
Reformatory in Laurel, MD until it closed in the sixties. She continued with DHS in as a
supervisor in the half way houses with girls and later boys and ended her service at the
Receiving Home until her retirement in 1993.
Eleanor enjoyed all sports and had played softball and basketball in college. She was also a
singer and played the piano by ear. As a parishioner at St. Paul Baptist Church she was
involved in the choir and Girl Scouts. She was a Board member of the Longview Beach
Association in Bushwood, MD for many years and headed several committees. In her leisure
time she was an avid card player and enjoyed entertaining.
Eleanor has left behind her children, Veronica A. Garnett, Barbara W. Garnett, and James E.
Garnett; her grandchildren Kenneth J. McCarley, Marielle A. Martin and Davvion Rogers,
extended family James McCarley, and Janafer Garnett and a host of nieces, nephews and
cousins.
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