Sara Kathryn Garnett

We lost a trailblazing, independent and gutsy Christian soul today.  Sara Kathryn Garnett, 95, died on Thursday, March 11, 2010 at St. Clare Meadows Health Care in Baraboo, Wisconsin.

Sara was born on April 15, 1914 in Oklahoma, the youngest of three children born to Ermine Williams Garnett and Charles Hunter Garnett.  She spent her childhood with her sister, Betty and brother, W.K. Garnett in the West Texas town of Fort Stockton.  The family returned to Oklahoma City in 1926, where Sara graduated from high school and in 1937 graduated from the University of Oklahoma.  At that time our country was on the brink of WWII.  She put her further education on hold to assist in the war effort.  Sara took flying lessons at Tinker AFB in anticipation of ferrying air craft for the Army Air Corps.  She was piloting an enclosed single engine air craft when a life threatening crash ended her flying career.  After that incident, she was content to keep her feet on the ground and work at the Douglas Air Craft plant.  When the war ended in 1945, Sara went to Japan as a civilian employee of the Air Force.  Sara, throughout her 4 year tour, developed a sincere affection for the people and most things Japanese.  In 1949, after completing her tour, Sara returned to the U.S.  Unable to sit still, Sara again accepted employment with the Air Force, and left in 1952 to work in Germany at Ramstein AFB until 1955.  Upon returning home, she completed law school and in 1961 joined her father and brother in their law practice in Oklahoma City.  In 1973, Sara retired and moved back to Fort Stockton to the old family home where she resided for the next 30 years.  In 1983, at the age of 66, she was ordained as an Episcopal priest at St. Clements’s Cathedral in El Paso.  She served as Priest in Charge at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church for the next 20 years.  Sara spent these years as a colorful and beloved resident of Ft. Stockton.  Throughout her life, Sara was a faithful American patriot and considered herself a proud Texan.  She was devoted to her family and friends in Ft. Stockton.  Sara moved to Wisconsin to be near her niece Ann and her husband Pat Kirk in 2003.  She resided at St. Clare Meadows in Baraboo, where she spent the remainder of her life. While in residence there, she conducted a weekly Bible study.

She is survived by nephews, William Garnett Hamilton, NYC, William Garnett, Oklahoma City, OK, and Charles Garnett, Norman, OK;  nieces, Ann Kirk, Portage, WI, and Sallie Van Krevelen, Enid, OK;  cousins, Clayton Williams, Jr., Midland, TX, and Janet Williams Pollard, Midland, TX;  her sister-in-law, Joanna Garnett, Oklahoma City;  other relatives and friends who were always close to her heart.

A funeral Mass will be said at Trinity Episcopal Church, 111 Sixth Street, Baraboo, WI by Father Scott Seefeldt on Sunday, March 14, 2010 at 2:00 p.m.  Inurnment will be at a later date at St. Stephens Church in Fort Stockton, Texas.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials be made in Sara’s name to Trinity Episcopal Church, 111 Sixth St., Baraboo, WI  53913 or to St. Stephens Episcopal Church, 301 Everts, Fort Stockton, TX  79735.