Citytimes: 'She was a dear, dear, loving mother'

'She was a dear, dear, loving mother'

Katy Garner lived for decades in Palma Ceia, raising three children, working full time and teaching Sunday school.

MARTY CLEAR
Published May 16, 2003

KATY GARNER

1921-2003

PALMA CEIA - The story of Katy Garner's life is really the story of her family.

Although the Garners have been prominent South Tampa residents for decades, the family actually began in rural Alabama in the 1930s.

It was there that Katy Bailey married her childhood sweetheart, Harvey Garner, at the age of 15. From that day on, her family was the most important thing in her life.

"Oh, she was a dear, dear, loving mother," said her husband of 65 years. "She would do anything for the kids. That was what she lived for, her family and the church."

She and her husband remained inseparable until she died Friday (May 9, 2003) from complications of Alzheimer's disease.

The couple married a few months before Mrs. Garner's 16th birthday. They had the first of their three children the next year.

Mrs. Garner believed in the value of hard work and never stopped working even while raising her family.

"My father was a Marine, and my mother was a Rosie the Riveter in San Diego during World War II," said her youngest son, Gary Garner. "After my father shipped out, my mother brought us all back to Alabama on a troop train. All the GIs would take care of us."

In 1948, the Garners moved to Palma Ceia. Harvey Garner had been transferred here by Swift Co.

"We came down Dale Mabry in a borrowed Swift Co. truck to my mother's dream house," Gary Garner said. "It was probably a 900-square-foot house at 3615 Tampa Circle."

Four years later, Katy and Harvey Garner were among the charter members of Palma Ceia Baptist Church. She remained a devoted member for the rest of her life.

"It was just us and a few others," Harvey Garner said. "She started a Sunday school for young women. She would go door-to-door bringing people to the church."

Even though she was a young mother and a Sunday school teacher, Mrs. Garner worked full time, first at American Can Co. and later at Four Star Sausage, the company her husband started in Ybor City in the late 1960s. She handled the bookkeeping and office work for 17 years.

"We didn't have much, but she always worked to make sure we had a little more," Gary Garner said. "Hard work came natural to her, and she instilled that in us."

Although she was an exceptionally loving mother, she was also demanding.

"Oh, she was a strict mama," Gary Garner said. "She grew up hard with a hard dad. I don't think she ever switched me very hard, but I do remember she'd make me go get a switch. I'd be crying before I ever got back into the house."

Her parenting techniques may seem old-fashioned, but they helped keep the family close.

Even today, 55 years after they moved to Palma Ceia, all of Katy and Harvey Garner's children - daughter, Frankie, and sons, Mac and Gary - live within a few blocks of their parents.

Mrs. Garner's health started declining about six years ago. Alzheimer's gradually claimed her once-sharp mind.

"That was the hard part, watching her lose it," Gary Garner said. "She used to be able to do the alphabet backwards faster than you could do it forwards, and she could finish the New York Times crossword puzzle."

Still, he said, his parent's devotion to each other never wavered. If anything, the disease made them even more devoted.

"My dad wouldn't leave her side," Gary Garner said. "He wouldn't let anyone else take care of her."

Toward the end, her husband enlisted some help but he remained her primary caregiver.

"She wanted to come home, so I brought her home," her husband said. "She went into a coma and never uttered another word. She died peacefully, She didn't even breathe hard when she died."

"God bless her," said her son, Gary. "She's in a better place now."