cousins.  We stayed in their pastor’s house next to the cemetery.  Ronnie teased us about ghosts to the point that Linda was afraid to sleep by the window.  
On our way back to California we stopped at Carlsbad Caverns where I remember Ronnie having a good time teasing us when they turned off all the lights.  He was fun to travel with and was just a big tease.  We often sang 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall and looked for different states license plates.  The Burma Shave Signs were also fun to read.
When I started high school, Ronnie was a senior.  I remember that he told all his friends to look out for me.  He always made me feel special.  Of course he teased me about boyfriends, but I always knew how much he cared about me.  He had a special way of pinching by cheek whenever we saw each other that’ll I’ll always remember.  It was his way of showing affection.
I loved my big brother to the point I would do most anything for him.  I’ll never forget when he had his tonsils out and wanted something salty and scratchy.  Boy was I in trouble when I snuck him some Fritos and Mom found out.  I was probably only about 8 years old and didn’t realize that they could have scratched off the scabs and caused bleeding.  I only knew that my brother wanted them and that was all I cared about.
I remember how happy I was when he married Karen.  We used to tease him and figured he’d never get married. He waited a long time for the right person, and I’m so glad they had so many happy years together.  It is sad in today’s society how families drift apart due to geography, not like years ago when families stayed in one location.  However, when we got together and reminisced, it was like old times, and the lost visits and years between didn’t seem to matter so much.
Rest in peace, Ronnie.   I look forward to our big family reunion in heaven someday.

LOVE,  BARBARA


and down streets telling them “My Dad’s a baseball player and we live in a 2 story house.  She was almost 4 years old and it obviously had a happy ending.
In 1952 and 1953, we spent all summer in Victoria, British Columbia while Dad managed the Tyees Baseball team.  And as Ronnie had been in Visalia, he enjoyed being the “bat boy”.  Our family was blessed to get to travel so much, and of course since Ronnie was older, his memories were better than mine.  This was the last summer Dad played baseball.
The rest of our summers were spent at home in Gardena.  There were a lot of kids our age in the neighborhood of mostly former WWII veterans.  We always played baseball in the street.  I was always welcome on a team, and Linda also when she was older.  We played regular baseball, not softball, and boy would they fly.
We took a special trip during the Christmas holidays in 1955.  Our family of five with Mom’s parents, in our 1956 station wagon, headed across country when I-40 was under construction.  It was a tight fit but there were no seatbelts then so we could lie down. Mom was driving while Dad slept, and she took the wrong detour and ended up almost on the Mexican border. We kids were sleeping in the back with my grandmother in the little “jump seat”.  Dad woke up and took over the driving, anxious to get to El Paso so we could drive across Texas in one day.  We made it and spent the night just across the Louisiana border.  We left before daylight when we all started scratching from bedbugs!  Later we dropped our grandparents off to catch a train to North Carolina while we headed to Illinois for Christmas.  It was the first time in years that Ronnie and the rest of us got to see our cousins.  Ronnie and the guys went hunting while we were there.  And, of course he has loved guns since he dressed up in cowboy outfits and we had gunfights with cap guns.   After traveling to North Carolina to pick up our grandparents (who now lived with us) we got to spend time with more

Although I couldn’t be present for Ronnie’s  -- that’s what we always called him --final goodbye, he knows I’m here in spirit and I wanted to share some memories of our life together via this letter.  Unfortunately the years he was away in the service, and my living in various places including Northern California and currently Sandpoint Idaho, has interfered with our visits.  We did try to meet up occasionally when we could, and I have some nice memories of those times although they were too infrequent
However, most of my memories are from our growing up years.  He was always my big brother.  As a toddler he was often by my side either reluctantly entertaining me (on mom’s orders) or chasing me around the house.  One time in North Carolina I remember him chasing me and I fell into a metal fire screen.  I cut my chin, where today seventy years later if I look carefully, I can still see a slight scar.  I have a slight recollection of Mom and all three of us kids traveling by train to Chicago on a Pullman car with the berths that pull down to make beds.  I was upset because although I got to sleep up on top with Ronnie, I was crunched against the wall and Ronnie had the outside because Mom was afraid I’d roll off.  Linda was a baby and slept safely down below with Mom.
We shared great times on our travels when Dad played baseball.  
We spent a summer in Visalia and learned to put aftershave on our many mosquito bites.  The bites were worth it though, walking those hot summer nights to get an ice cream cone.  I don’t remember how Ronnie cut himself, but he had a scar on his arm from this summer.  The doctor came to our house and I helped mom hold him down while he put clips on the cut to close it up.  This was also the summer our dog “Tuffy” got loose and we scoured the neighborhood looking for him, but of course Ronnie caught him. This may have been the same event where Linda got lost.  Mom called the police; meanwhile Linda was riding around in a police car going up 

OBITUARY

Ronald C Garriott

August 23, 1940 – March 23, 2018

Funeraria del Angel Chula Vista

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