(Luther) Gaston Garrett and Janet Louise Ross met in 1942, when she was 17 and he was 23. He had joined the military in 1940 and had been sent to Ascension Island off the coast of Africa in the South Atlantic Ocean after basic training. They met while he was home on furlough after returning to the United States. After a sweet courtship, they married in Rossville, Georgia on November 23,1943. His military service continued so they moved to Santa Maria, California where he was stationed. When they discovered they were expecting their first child, Janet moved back to Jamestown, Tennessee to stay with her parents until the baby was born.
They were blessed with six children, Christopher, Patrick, Keith, David, Priscilla, and Susan. Their children’s education was always very important to both of them, so they raised their family with the intent that each child would go to college. They encouraged their children to do well in school. Janet taught the children correct grammar and expected them to speak properly and both she and Gaston expected the children to do well in school with no excuses. Of the six children, five hold college degrees.
Janet and Gaston were hard workers and taught their children to work hard too. Gaston worked as a USDA food inspector, and Janet was a homemaker, but worked outside of the home at times. They raised their children on a farm where everyone had chores to do from milking cows, feeding animals, and working in the garden, to helping in the house with cleaning chores. The boys learned cooking and cleaning skills as well as the girls, and the girls learned farm chores as well as the boys.
They raised their children to love each other and their country. They encouraged them to do good for others and help make the world a better place. Knowing that knowledge is power, they encouraged their children to pass that down throughout the family generations. Gaston and Janet would be thrilled to know a scholarship endowment is being set up in their name to help others in the community receive a good education.
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