Tressie Garrison

New London - Tressie (Palmer) Garrison, 92, died peacefully on July 31, 2008, following a period of declining health.

She was born in Franklin, N.H., on Dec. 21, 1915. She was the daughter of the late George Henry Palmer and Mildred Bell Keniston. Tressie moved to Concord, N.H. when she was a child and lived there for over 30 years. She was a service representative for the New England Telephone Company. At the start of World War II, she enlisted in the U.S. Navy and was sent to the University of Wisconsin, Madison, for training as a radio operator. She was stationed in Washington, D.C. in Naval Intelligence, from 1942 to 1943, working in the department that intercepted and decoded radio messages from enemy submarines operating off U.S. shores at that time. For her dedicated service during wartime, she was awarded a Ribbon Bar. Tressie received an injury on duty when stairs collapsed at her barracks. After spending several months at the Bethesda Naval Hospital, she received an honorable discharge in 1943.

On Aug. 8, 1948, Tressie married J. William Garrison of Atlanta, Ga. They lived in New London, where "Bill" worked for the Coca-Cola Bottling Company. She was widowed on Jan. 23, 1967.

She then worked for the next two decades at Connecticut College, as the administrative assistant to the chaplain at Harkness Chapel. Upon her retirement in 1985, Tressie's portrait was placed in the Harkness Chapel Library in recognition of her generous and loving work with students. She moved to Whitney Place in Natick, Mass., a decade ago to be nearer to her immediate family.

Tressie was a long time member of the Second Congregational Church in New London, where she served in Women's Christian Fellowship as a Deaconess and on the Missionary and Nominations Committee. She had also been a member of the Eastern Star, Fidelity Chapter 54, of New London, the Disabled American Veterans Post in New London, as well as the American Legion Post in Niantic. She attended the Trinitarian Congregational Church in Wayland, Mass., over the past seven years. Tressie loved flowers and gardening, music and dancing, the Boston Red Sox, laughing with family and friends, creative writing and composing poetry. She was devoted to her daughter, son-in-law, and grandson. Her smile and "love beams" will be missed by all who had the pleasure of knowing her.

Mrs. Garrison is survived by a daughter, Patricia G. Simmons, M.D., and her husband, Jeffrey L. Simmons, M.D., both of Lincoln, Mass. She was the beloved grandmother of William H. "Will" Simmons, also of Lincoln. She is survived by her brother, Wendell K. Palmer of Manchester, N.H., and many beloved nieces and nephews.

She was the sister of the late Wayne Palmer and the late Pauline Palmer.

There will be no funeral home visitation. A memorial service celebrating her life will be held at 11 a.m., on Saturday, Aug. 23, 2008, at the Westgate Church, 100 Winter St., Weston, Mass. Interment will take place in the Garrison family lot in Cedar Grove Cemetery in New London. A memorial service is also being planned at a future date at Harkness Chapel, Connecticut College, New London.

Memorial donations in Tressie's memory may be made to the Deacons Fund, Trinitarian Congregational Church, 53 Cochituate Road, Wayland MA 01778.

Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to the care of the John C. Bryant Funeral Home of Wayland.