Emile Garnett Obituary

Emile E. Garnett, retired teacher and Christian Minister, was called home by the Lord on June 1, 2017. He was born the only child of Emile and Nettie Viola (Floyd) Garnett in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on November 26, 1920.

He was raised on his father's wheat farm southwest of Fort Supply, Oklahoma. He attended and graduated from high school at Fort Supply. On June 17, 1939, he and Mary Kathryn Tune Garnett were married after holding various jobs as a farm hand, cowboy, and steel worker at Fort Supply Dam, Tinker Air Force Base, and in Minnesota construction projects. By 1944, he and Mary Kathryn, with their four children, settled in Fargo, Oklahoma. Shortly after that time, he was drafted into the Army. He was stationed initially at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, then in Italy with the 10th Mountain Division at Salerno. A part of his field training included learning how to ski on his boots.

Upon returning from his Army service, Emile worked for the county and state road departments, maintaining and building roads as a grader operator. It was now that the Lord called him to be saved and to serve. The family moved from Fargo to Bethany, Oklahoma in 1949, where Emile attended and graduated with a Bachelor's Degree. While attending college, he worked as a machinist and ministered and preached to a small Congregational Church in the Deer Creek community west of Edmond, OK. Graduating in 1955, Emile and his family relocated to a rural home west of Edmond.

In 1957, Emile was called to serve congregations in Kingfisher County, Oklahoma, including Okarche, Park, and Altona, and from 1959 to 1965 he ministered congregations at Loyal and Okeene. At Loyal, he also taught elementary classes in Loyal Public School from 1961-1965.

In 1965, Emile and Mary Kathryn relocated to Colorado Springs, where he taught 6th grade in District 11 until retirement in 1985. He faithfully attended and was interim Pastor, Deacon, and Elder at Anchor Way Baptist Church until 2012.

He is survived by his loving and beloved wife, Anna Lee McRay Garnett; one daughter, Rose Marie Garnett Garrison of Colorado Springs; and son, Earl Keith Garnett and wife, Joye J. Grabow Garnett of Bay City, Texas. Emile is also survived by eleven grandchildren; eighteen great-grandchildren; and numerous great-great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Emile and Viola Floyd Garnett; his wife, Mary Kathryn Tune Garnett in 2008; and two daughters, Mary Jane Garnett Southard, 1975, and Kathryn Ann Garnett Herring, 1997.

Visitation, 1:00PM–3:00PM, Sunday, June 11, 2017 at The Springs Funeral Services, 3115 East Platte Avenue, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80909.

Funeral Service, 10:00AM, Monday, June 12, 2017 at Anchor Way Baptist Church, 3125 Virginia Avenue, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80907.

Burial with military honors to follow at Evergreen Cemetery, 1005 Hancock Expressway, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80903. A luncheon reception will then be served at Anchor Way Baptist Church.

Memorial donations in Pastor Emile's name may be made to Anchor Way Baptist Church.

Blessed be his memory.

Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me." – Matthew 16:24