omhgarne.html

The Goldendale Sentinel, Goldendale, WA., May 9, 1968, page 1
Includes portrait

DEAN OF TEACHERS DIES AT AGE 76

Mary Garner, beloved teacher and neighbor of three generations of Centerville residents, died Tuesday morning at a hospital in The Dalles. She was 76 years of age, and had been hospitalized just over two months.
Mary came to Centerville in 1911, at the age of 19, to teach at the old String Street school. Two years later she gave up teaching to marry Frank Garner, and settled down to a career as a farm wife and mother.
It was not until 33 years later, after her family members were grown, that she considered teaching again on a war emergency certificate. Teachers were scarce, and Mary went to the Cliffs school in 1946 to help out. She stayed at that school seven more years. Beginning in 1947 and continuing for16 years she took correspondence courses and summer classes at Central Washington State College in Ellensburg to complete her education. In 1963 she received her BS degree in education at the age of 71, one of the oldest to be so honored by the state college. She continued to teach where the need was greatest, shifting from Centerville (where she had gone to teach in 1955) to Wishram in 1964. She taught until illness forced her to seek medical aid, March 4.
With her husband, Frank, Mary Garner was active and interested in all affairs of the Centerville and Goldendale communities. They were popular parents of a popular family, which included three brothers, Henry, William and Leo, and three sisters, Elizabeth Brower, The Dalles; Gail Thompson, Starbuck, and Janice Creason, Seattle. There are 14 grandchildren and four great-grand children in the family, also.
Services will be the held Friday at 2 p.m. in the Centerville school, with the Knosher Funeral Home in charge. William Howard Spear, Wishram, and Bill Parker, Centerville, will jointly officiate.
The family has announced that it was Mary's wish that, in lieu of flowers, contributions be made it to the American Cancer Society or the church of the donors choice.