John E. Garrett Jr.

Born in Watts Oklahoma on October 7, 1927 to Millie Hubbard Garrett and John E. Garrett, Sr., John attended a one-room country grade school in Adair County Oklahoma, where he was the only person in his class. By working at his own pace he finished grade school at the age of 11 and finished high school when he was only 15.

During the early part of World War II, at the age of 17, he worked in the defense effort at Pasco, Washington. It was here that he enlisted in the U.S. Navy’s V-5 program and subsequently attended the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, the University of California at Berkley, and flight training at Livermore California.

John graduated from Oklahoma State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1949. While job interviewing, John saw Dallas for the first time and fell in love with the big city on the Trinity. He met a young beauty from Garland Texas by the name of Frances Marie Bates and was married in June of 1951. John and Frances had two boys, John Patrick and Kevin Wade Garrett.

John worked as a Petroleum Engineer for Atlantic Richfield for 15 years. In 1964, he started his own petroleum consulting firm. He was a pioneer in the field of energy economics software development, responsible for the creation of the GREAT program, now refined into the ARIES program which remains the industry standard to this day. In 1969 he started Garrett Computing Systems, a computing software firm to serve the oil and gas industry. He retired from Garrett Computing in 1986 to found Garrett Petroleum with the goal of using his knowledge and expertise to explore for new oil and gas reserves. This company still continues under the direction of his sons.

In the tradition of his father, John was talented with his hands as well as his mind. A skilled carpenter from an early age, John helped his father build their house and barn on the farm in Oklahoma. John took these skills and honed them over many years of fine furniture design and construction. He also expressed his innate talent for architecture through the process of designing three beautiful Dallas homes in which he and his family have lived for the last five decades.

John will be greatly missed by his devoted wife Frances and his son John Patrick, wife Brenda and their daughters Barrie Garrett Lamberton and Caitlin Elise Garrett, his son Kevin, wife Mari and their children Tyler and Karina Garrett. John is also survived by his brother Bill Garrett who resides in Yuma Arizona.

Memorial services will be held at the chapel of Sparkman Hillcrest Funeral Home on Saturday, June 11th at 2:00 PM. The family will receive friends in the parlor after the conclusion of the Memorial service.

The Garrett family requests in lieu of flowers that donations be made to the Texas Voice Project for Parkinson Disease @ texasvoiceproject.org. 500 N. Coit Road, Suite 2085, Richardson, TX 75080.