(September 16, 1918 - May 5, 2016)
Lois Irene Redman was born in Lawler, Iowa on September 16, 1918, and spent much of her youth in the small Wisconsin town of Monroe. She was active in school theater and local music circles as an accomplished pianist and gifted vocalist. She was a good student, but despite an excellent academic record, she spent only a year in college before opting to work to support her younger brother's education.
She worked through the early years of World War II in secretarial positions before meeting the handsome friend of a roommate, a Coast Guard Lieutenant named Dan Garrett. They spent an entire night in conversation, and not long afterward she rode the train to Dallas where they were married on May 8, 1944. Their honeymoon was a train trip to his flight training posting in Pensacola, Florida.
There in Pensacola they started a long life together as a military couple - and soon, as a growing military family. Their travels took them to homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, where her first child, Susan, was born. The next posting was to the beaches of Honolulu, Hawaii, where their next child, Timothy, was born. Next followed a transfer to Argentia, Newfoundland, where they lived on a rock island without any soil and their daughter Debra joined the family. They next moved to Traverse City, Michigan, where their son Chris rounded out what they came to call the Troops.
After that Lois and Dan moved the family to Long Island, New York; Somerset, Bermuda; Norfolk, Virginia; and finally Cape May and Moorestown, New Jersey. Dan retired from his final position as the Executive Officer at the Coast Guard Training Center in Cape May, New Jersey in 1967 and they moved to Pompano Beach, Florida, where he worked for many years as an officer on both passenger liners as well as on cargo freighters out of the port of Miami, as captain of the Miami Seaquarium hydrofoil, and finally as the captain of the Paddlewheel Queen dinner cruise ship. Lois worked as an office administrator and then was the membership secretary of the International Gamefish Association (IGFA) in Fort Lauderdale until they both retired again in the 1990's.
Her love for her husband was the guiding principle of her life. Throughout their lives they laughed, entertained one another, danced and sang together and never lost sight of what was most important in life, despite any irritations they may have had with one another (and there were a few). She was funny, bright, an uninhibited jazz singer with a resonant contralto, and a great dancer. She could be stubborn, unreasonable, volatile, and throw you for a loop, but at her best could wring great joy and fantastic humor out of each day.
Lois was an unfailing supporter - to a fault - of all her children, truly believing in her heart that any of them were capable of doing anything at all they wanted to do. Her love for us all was unconditional, especially when we were in need. In later years, Lois' circle of care came to once again include her beloved brother Warren (Bus) Redman, who moved down to Florida to spend his final years with them.
When Dan's health began to seriously fail ten years ago, she devoted herself to his care with stubborn purpose. She truly believed she could keep him alive through sheer force of will.
They moved to be with their son Chris and his wife Dana in Mobile in 2007. He died a month after a stroke in November 2008, and was buried at Barrancas National Cemetery in Pensacola, the city where their life together began.
Somewhat lost after Dan's death in 2008 as they were each other's anchors, Lois began her own slow decline in the years that followed. Her body struggled to stay here with all she once knew and loved, but finally gave up on May 5, 2016, following a long battle with dementia.
On May 13, 2016, she came full circle back to Pensacola to lie beside him at Barrancas.
Lois Irene Redman was born in Lawler, Iowa on September 16, 1918, and spent much of her youth in the small Wisconsin town of Monroe. She was active in school theater and local music circles as an accomplished pianist and gifted vocalist. She was a good student, but despite an excellent academic record, she spent only a year in college before opting to work to support her younger brother's education.
She worked through the early years of World War II in secretarial positions before meeting the handsome friend of a roommate, a Coast Guard Lieutenant named Dan Garrett. They spent an entire night in conversation, and not long afterward she rode the train to Dallas where they were married on May 8, 1944. Their honeymoon was a train trip to his flight training posting in Pensacola, Florida.
There in Pensacola they started a long life together as a military couple - and soon, as a growing military family. Their travels took them to homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, where her first child, Susan, was born. The next posting was to the beaches of Honolulu, Hawaii, where their next child, Timothy, was born. Next followed a transfer to Argentia, Newfoundland, where they lived on a rock island without any soil and their daughter Debra joined the family. They next moved to Traverse City, Michigan, where their son Chris rounded out what they came to call the Troops.
After that Lois and Dan moved the family to Long Island, New York; Somerset, Bermuda; Norfolk, Virginia; and finally Cape May and Moorestown, New Jersey. Dan retired from his final position as the Executive Officer at the Coast Guard Training Center in Cape May, New Jersey in 1967 and they moved to Pompano Beach, Florida, where he worked for many years as an officer on both passenger liners as well as on cargo freighters out of the port of Miami, as captain of the Miami Seaquarium hydrofoil, and finally as the captain of the Paddlewheel Queen dinner cruise ship. Lois worked as an office administrator and then was the membership secretary of the International Gamefish Association (IGFA) in Fort Lauderdale until they both retired again in the 1990's.
Her love for her husband was the guiding principle of her life. Throughout their lives they laughed, entertained one another, danced and sang together and never lost sight of what was most important in life, despite any irritations they may have had with one another (and there were a few). She was funny, bright, an uninhibited jazz singer with a resonant contralto, and a great dancer. She could be stubborn, unreasonable, volatile, and throw you for a loop, but at her best could wring great joy and fantastic humor out of each day.
Lois was an unfailing supporter - to a fault - of all her children, truly believing in her heart that any of them were capable of doing anything at all they wanted to do. Her love for us all was unconditional, especially when we were in need. In later years, Lois' circle of care came to once again include her beloved brother Warren (Bus) Redman, who moved down to Florida to spend his final years with them.
When Dan's health began to seriously fail ten years ago, she devoted herself to his care with stubborn purpose. She truly believed she could keep him alive through sheer force of will.
They moved to be with their son Chris and his wife Dana in Mobile in 2007. He died a month after a stroke in November 2008, and was buried at Barrancas National Cemetery in Pensacola, the city where their life together began.
Somewhat lost after Dan's death in 2008 as they were each other's anchors, Lois began her own slow decline in the years that followed. Her body struggled to stay here with all she once knew and loved, but finally gave up on May 5, 2016, following a long battle with dementia.
On May 13, 2016, she came full circle back to Pensacola to lie beside him at Barrancas.