Ethel M. Garvey

To parents Minnie and John Garner of the small farming community of Woodbine in Cook County Texas, Ethel Martha Garvey née Garner was born following her first arrived twin Bethel on Dec. 13, 1922. They numbered fourth and fifth among an ultimate number of twelve, a large though not uncommon family size in the early 20th century. The dimunitive though hardy Minnie bore the last of her tribe at 50, and as Ethel said, was solely credited with keeping them from starving to death through the deprivations of the Great Depression.

Ethel and Bethel were as one, always together. Ethel claimed older sisters Alma and Marie got the best of their mother's cooking skills because the twins were considered too much in the way, coming as they did always paired. They loved to spend the night with their grandma Roxie Garner for she was a great teller of ghost stories.

The dire economic struggles of the 1930s forced families to adapt for basic survival, and at 13, Ethel was taken in as housekeeper and stand-in mother for the Nelson family of Woodbine. Mrs. Nelson had been disabled in a farming accident. Given Ethel's care and kindness, she was greatly admired and remained close to the family into subsequent decades. A gift of mutual benefit was that the Nelsons insisted she learn to drive an automobile.

Shifting of households and adaptation continued for the twins. To finish high school in nearby Gainesville, they lived for a time with the Leonard family, publishers of the newspaper, the Gainesville Register. It may have been there that Ethel became an avid reader, a love that continued until her passing. They also resided with the family who operated the popular Gainesville Circus. The owner once asked, "Don't you know how to do something?" hoping he might have twin trapeze artists or wild animal trainers.

High school concluded for Ethel as the world fell into the chaos and uncertainty of WWII. The twins found work locally as switchboard operators for the telephone company, a vocation that Ethel continued all of her working life, culminating in 20 years at Texas Instruments in north Dallas. She very much enjoyed her years there, especially for her supervisor Pat, who became a valued friend.

Ethel married James Garvey of Gainesville in 1944. They moved to Houston where James worked on avionics for the Civil Aeronautics Administration while Ethel continued with the telephone company. As the war subsided, James was hired as a field technician for the Atlantic Refining Co., a company which along with Richfield and Sinclair eventually became ARCO, a primary developer of Alaska's North Slope. James was employed on one of the company's seismograph crews, teams of approx. 10 men which ranged across the western US geologically mapping prospective oil fields. The work required constant movement and relocation, a dominant feature of James and Ethel's experience, a "gypsy" life as Ethel referred to it. In early years before children, the moves were interesting, but as their family grew to four children the moves which might repeat three or four times a year became a trial of endurance. Each of her children, Sherry, James, David, and Harry, were born in a different town, from Texas to Montana. Coincidentally, twin sister Bethel also married into the seismograph gypsy life, to husband A.C. Herrmann from a Gainesville family.

After the Woodbine community lost their Methodist Church, Ethel became a lifelong Baptist. With her own young family on the move, one of her unerring acclimation routines was to sit her kids on the front pew of the First Baptist Church the very first Sunday after arrival in each new town. Her first born son James Jr. remembers it without fondness.

By the time Ethel's oldest child, daughter Sherry, finished high school, she had attended classes in more than 15 towns, son James in 13, younger son David 6 and Harry in 4. Their constant anchor throughout their rootless lifestyle was the steady hand and loving care of their mother Ethel.

In 1966, James Sr. was assigned a position in the new ARCO laboratory under construction in Plano, Tx. Two years later, after having traveled for years and untold miles, James and Ethel built their first home there. Bethel and A.C., in further happy coincidence, also settled in Plano.

Ethel, per custom, joined the Baptist Church and enjoyed over 40 years of fellowship including long time best friend Anne Clack, a fellow ARCO traveler and bridge player. She loved social settings and especially the two tables of her card playing group. She made friends easily, had great stories, was a warm and loyal friend to many, young and old. She appreciated history and literature and was fortunate to visit places within her reading through some trips to Europe. In her 60s she attended jr. college, discovered a writing talent, no surprise to her family. Her extensive family research was done in the 'old school,' pre-internet way by utilizing the library.

Ethel lost husband James in 1998 and survived all of her siblings. The loss of Bethel to cancer in 1989 was especially painful. In wistful moments, she asked "why am I still here?" but as a quietly spiritual person knew there to be a reason. She had a principle for living often shared, especially with younger folk: be honest and honorable, take responsibility for your actions, live by the golden rule.

Ethel is survived by her daughter Sherry, son James and his wife Linda, son David and wife Anita, and son Harry. Her six grandchildren are Lara Russell and husband Clint, Thomas Conrady and wife Jessica, Jason Garvey and wife Julie, Micah Alexander and husband Adam, Carrie Garvey, and Kathryn Garvey and wife Kim Mascis. There are nine great grandchildren ranging in age from three to twenty-one.

The family will be gathered graveside for a brief memorial at the Plano Mutual Cemetery on Jupiter Rd. at 11:00 AM on Dec. 13, a date that would have marked her 103rd birthday. Anyone wishing to honor Ethel can do so with a donation to The Salvation Army.