Marie Garcia Garrett

Marie Leonora García Garrett, 96, died March 30, 2022, after a brief illness. Born October 12, 1925 in Tampa, she graduated from Hillsborough High School and Florida State College for Women (now Florida State University) before earning her law degree from the University of Florida. After a brief stint with the city attorney’s office in Tampa, she and her husband, Howard L. Garrett, founded their own law firm, Garrett & Garrett, in 1953, where they practiced law together until her retirement. She grew up in Ybor City, the daughter of cigar workers, and always spoke with great fondness of her childhood there, where her parents were members of Centro Español. Fluently bilingual, she was proud to have been only the second female Hispanic attorney in Tampa, and was recognized as such by the Hillsborough Association for Women Lawyers with the Trailblazer Award in 2012.

For many decades Marie was an active member of the Tampa club of Altrusa International, serving in a number of positions of responsibility including district governor and president of the Wilma B. Hogan Foundation in Tampa. Along with her husband, Marie was a founding member of Davis Islands Community Church. Together, they enjoyed extensive travel. She loved her garden, Broadway musicals and big band music, and she loved to dance, having won a rhumba competition in her law school days. She was a loving daughter, wife, mother, grandmother, and great grandmother who doted on her grandchildren and great grandchildren, all of whom brought her great joy and pride.

Marie lived in her beloved Tampa her entire life, except for her college and law school years, and resided in the same house on Davis Islands for 67 years, until her death.

She is survived by her daughter Gloria Garrett Schofield (Lynden) and grandchildren Finneus Earnhardt-McClain (Jana) and Drew McClain (Annie), daughter Leslie Garrett (Chuck Warren) and grandchildren Cody Heermans, Casey Heermans (Louis Crow), and Jeremiah Warren, and by grandchildren Aaron Maslanik (Megan Banfield), and Irene Maslanik. She is also survived by three great-grandchildren, Jacob and Charlotte Maslanik and Rees Garrett McClain. She is predeceased by her parents, Manuel and Gloria García, her husband of almost 50 years, Howard L. Garrett, and her daughter, Howardene Garrett.

The family wishes to give special thanks to the dear friends who contributed so much toward fulfilling Marie’s heartfelt wish to remain in her home: Christine Ming-Smith, Kim Richmond, and Carol Ross, and to Linda Warren, whose loving care in her final days was a true gift.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that donations in her memory be made to the Judeo-Christian Health Clinic, Inc., an organization she supported for many years. For further information, please visit https://www.judeochristianhealthclinic.org/index.html.