Former Clement Industries vice-president of sales Bill Garrison died Nov. 29 in Minden, Louisiana. He was 87.
Garrison began his career in industrial sales work at Marion Power Shovel Co., where he met and married his wife of 64 years, Patricia Smoot Garrison. Together they moved to New York, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Ft. Lauderdale, Findlay, OH, Plymouth, MI, Newark, OH, Enterprise, AL, and to their final home in Minden, LA. He retired in 2012 after a 30-plus-year career at Clement Industries.
Garrison was born in Corning, Ohio, September 10, 1929, and graduated from Corning High School. As a young man, he was an accomplished trumpet player, having been selected to the All-Ohio Boys Band in 1946 and 47 and became an Eagle Boy Scout along the way. He was educated at Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio, where he was a member of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and participated in intercollegiate basketball and golf.
He was preceded in death by his grandparents William J. Garrison and wife Anna; Earl S. Harman and wife Ethel; parents Clarence W. “Gary” Garrison and wife Helen “Hap”; and an Aunt Christine Garrison. Surviving are his wife Patricia, daughter Laura Garrison and husband Bob with grandson Nicholas, Boulder, Co; son Richard W. Garrison and wife Pat with grandsons Oliver, Max, and Neil, Boston, MA; daughter Jill Hensley and granddaughter Natalie, Albuquerque, NM, one brother Richard E. Garrison and wife Greta, Bonita Springs, FL along with many nieces and nephews.
A memorial service was held at First Presbyterian Church in Minden on Dec. 3, with Reverend Gary Miller officiating.