With bright blue eyes, a smile that would light up a room, and a warm personality that turned every new acquaintance into a friend, Esther Poole Garrett, 70, a resident of Asheville, NC and Charleston, SC passed away on May 3, 2020 after a brief illness. At the time of her death, she was a patient at the CarePartners Hospice Facility at 21 Belvedere Road in Asheville, NC.
She was preceded in death by her parents Frank and Esther Poole and her grandson Garrett Christopher Hodgdon.
She is survived by her husband Major General (Retired) Joseph G. (Skip) Garrett III; a daughter, Rebecca Garrett Nelson (husband Mike) of Raleigh, NC; a son, Christopher Fray Garrett of the residence in Asheville; a granddaughter Ellen Florance Hodgdon, a Pharmacy Student at the University of South Carolina in Columbia; a brother Frank R. Poole III (wife Janet) of Greensboro, NC, an aunt, several cousins, and many, many wonderful friends.
She and Skip were married in 1969 at the First Baptist Church in Greensboro, NC one week after he graduated from The Citadel in Charleston, SC and was commissioned in the U.S. Army. Over the next 32 years during Skip’s Army career they moved 23 times and the family was stationed in both the United States and in Germany. She was a superb cook and homemaker and enjoyed traveling with her husband and many friends throughout the world and spending time with her family at their condo in Charleston, SC where they frequently participated in activities at The Citadel. In 2019, the Garretts celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary with a cruise on the Queen Mary II to England and then met their daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter in Paris for a week of sightseeing.
Known to all as Beth, she was born in St. Leo’s Hospital in Greensboro, NC on September 28, 1949. She graduated in 1967 from Curry High School which at the time was the demonstration school for the Education Department at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She attended Coker College in Hartsville, SC and became a Registered Nurse upon graduation from Northern Virginia Community College in 1980 enjoying a career of over 20 years working as an OB/GYN nurse both in the U.S and in U.S. military hospitals overseas before retiring.
The family wishes to thank the staffs at Blue Ridge Premier Medicine, particularly Dr. Richard Arwood, Mission Hospital in Asheville, NC, and at CarePartners Hospice for their loving care and compassion shown to Beth during her final days. In lieu of flowers, donations in her name will be welcomed at The Citadel Foundation, 171 Moultrie Street, Charleston, SC 29409 for the Major General Joseph G. Garrett III and Esther P. Garrett Scholarship or to the Manna Food Bank, 627 Swannanoa River Road, Asheville, NC 28803.
A burial service will be scheduled at a later date in Arlington National Cemetery. Groce Funeral Home at Lake Julian is assisting the family.