The
Garrett
Family Home
Page
online since August 19, 1996
Use the menu above to navigate the site
Below is some basic information about us
Hi!
We
are Virginia and David
Garrett of Newport, the
county seat of Cocke
County ,
Tennessee. The picture
of us above was taken at
a friend' 50th
anniversary party in
summer 2011, where there
was lots of dancing. Dancing and
weddings seem to be
about the only time we
are too happy to be
self-conscious and take
decent pictures - but
since we have had three
big family weddings
since 2006 and spend a
lot of time dancing
since 2007, there are
probably more good
pictures of us around
than there ever were
before. You can check
them out in the Galleries
portion of this website.
As
you
can tell from the
picture we still enjoy
each others' company
after being married for
over 41 years. From 1980
through 1999 we were
active in Episcopal
Marriage Encounter,
which is a program
designed for couples
with good marriages
(that's good,
not perfect)
who want to make them
the best marriages they
possibly can be.
We have a lot
of friends in scattered
places around the USA
and beyond, and this
home page is one of our
ways of staying in
touch. Think of it as a
constantly updated year
round Christmas
newsletter.
The picture at right was
taken just a few miles
from our home by
daughter Arwen some
years ago. We hope it
helps explain why,
though we are not from
this area originally, we
were (and are) happy to
stay here since we moved
here in 1978.
We
are
very proud of our
children (two are
homegrown, and one we
claim as our "French
daughter!").
Click here
to learn more about
Geoffrey Garrett, Arwen
Garrett Wagers, and
Emilie Marceau Colpart.
They are all grown,
married, self supporting
and happy. Three for
three is pretty good.
Virginia
worked at the Cocke
County office of the
Tennessee Department
of Human Services
here in Newport from
1984 through 2004,
and is now a
supervisor at the
DHS Regional Call
Center in
Morristown. For 15
seasons Virginia has
also worked a second
job at DollyWood
, a local theme
park, where she
works in the
Festivals area of
the park.
Virginia
also
loves
working
in the yard when sh
can, and has filled
it with flowers in
the spring and
summer. Our special
pride and joy is the
variety of
daylilies. To see
some of the results
of her work, check
out our family's house and
yard page .
Virginia
and David are both
1969 graduates of
Messick High
School, a historic
high school in
Memphis which was
closed in 1980 and
demolished in
1982. There are
still a lot of old
Messick alumni
around though.
David is the
webmaster of Still On The Prowl, the Messick
Class of 1969
website.
Virginia
and David are also
both 1973
graduates of
Rhodes
College ,
which was known as
Southwestern at
Memphis while we
were there; click
on its link to
check out our alma
mater, one of the
nation's best
small liberal arts
institutions. We
are excited that
our daughter
followed in our
footsteps at
Rhodes in 1999 and
graduated in 2003
- the fifth person
in our family to
get a Bachelor of
Arts degree there.
(Virginia's two
sisters are also
alumni).
We also
enjoy birdwatching -
we've turned our
backyard into a mini
bird sanctuary - ,
good music of
(almost) all sorts,
and good movies!
We're not much on
sports, but we've
always enjoyed the
University
of Tennessee Lady
Vols . For the
fourth season now we
have had season
tickets; really good
ones too, on the
tenth row right
behind the visitors'
bench. Not only do
we enjoy ourselves
immensely, but the
team obviously
really likes us
being there, since
they went on to win
their seventh and
eighth national
championships. The
2008-2009 season was
more difficult with
a team of freshmen,
but we loved
watching them
develop as a team -
and it certainly
paid off in the last
two seasons!
One thing that most
people find quite
odd about us - we
have not had TV
service for the last
12 years in the
house. Obviously we
have a TV since we
watch a lot of
movies. We aren't
diehards, we just
don't get anything
from TV that would
justify the expense.
We discontinued the
service when we
realized we hadn't
even watched it in
more than 6 months.
David
graduated in 1977
from the School of
Theology at the
University of the
South in Sewanee,
Tennessee. Since
1978 he has served
as (first vicar,
then) rector at
Episcopal
Church of the
Annunciation
here in Newport,
where we are all
active members, and
is active in the
community.
After
years as a runner
and participating in
road races, David is
now an active walker
who walks about 20
miles weekly. He
also enjoys
photography and
often enters local
and regional
photography
contests. A sampling
of his photos can be
seen in the Galleries
part of the website.
Virginia
takes part in a
local Middle Eastern
folk dance troupe,
and the last couple
of years we have
taken up ballroom
dancing, and greatly
enjoy it! We are
members of the East
Tennessee
Ballroom
Dance Club in
Knoxville and make
their dances as
often as we can. At
this point we are so
hooked on dancing
together we simply
seek out
opportunities to do
so whenever and
however we can! We
are better at the
Latin dances than
the "smooth" dances
like foxtrot, though
we do a pretty
decent waltz &
swing. We usually
have a private
lesson & a
public lesson
weekly, and go out
dancing at least
once (sometimes
twice) a week.
Animals of
all sorts have
always been part of
our lives; dogs (especially
greyhounds), cats
(lots), fish (lots),
gerbils, birds,
turtles; we're just
not happy unless
other species are
around us, even
though they're a lot
of hassle! Check out
our many "critter
pages" on the site
menu.
Thanks for
visiting our home
page. Come back again
for updates on news
and new links!
