Margaret L Garrett

COLUMBIA - Services for Margaret Lockee Garrett, 101, will be held at 2:00 p.m. Monday, February 23, 2015, at the First Baptist Church of Columbia, Boyce Chapel, with burial in Elmwood Memorial Gardens. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service from 1 until 2 p.m. Dunbar Funeral Home, Devine Street Chapel, is assisting the family. Memorials may be made to the First Baptist Church Building Fund or to Laurel Crest Retirement Center in West Columbia. Mrs. Garrett, wife of the late Roy L. Garrett, died Thursday, February 19, 2015. She was the daughter of the late Arren Spencer and Mary Emanuel Lockee. She was born in Eastern North Carolina, educated in the public schools of Greenville, S.C. and the University of South Carolina. She taught Cosmetology at Columbia High School from 1945 until her retirement in 1975. Because of her interest in improving the educational qualifications of Cosmetologists, she was inducted into the S.C. Registered Cosmetologist Association Hall of Fame in 1993. She was the first woman President of the SC Trade and Industrial Teachers Association, serving 1972-73. This honor was given because of her leadership in the promotion of Vocational Education in the State of South Carolina. Mrs. Garrett was a member of First Baptist Church, Columbia, where she actively participated in the church choir for fifty-nine years, often singing solos for the services. She directed and taught in the Youth and College Sunday School Departments for over 10 years. Later she was active in the Baraca Coed Sunday School Class and also the Thursday Book Club. Mrs. Garrett was predeceased by her loving husband, Roy L. Garrett, two sisters, three brothers and a foster daughter, Nan D. Black. Surviving in her extended family is a number of caring nieces and nephews. She is thankful for her special caregivers at Laurel Crest Retirement Center and Hospice, and also Steve and Annette Francis and Helen Ann Rawlinson. Mrs. Garrett is also survived by a large group of loving, supportive church friends who have remained close in her later years.