Douglas “Doug” Garrett

Douglas William Garrett of Amarillo passed away from heart failure on Sunday, February 16, 2025.

Visitation will be from noon to 3:00 pm, Saturday, February 22, 2025, at Boxwell Brothers Funeral Home, 2800 Paramount Blvd. Memorial services will follow at 4:00 pm, at First Christian Church with Brett Coe, senior minister, officiating. Doug, as he wished, will be cremated. Arrangements are by Boxwell Brothers Funeral Directors. 

Doug was born on February 12, 1940, in Fairfield, Illinois, to Hazel Francis Anderson and Thomas Benjamin Garrett. Doug joined a big family that continued to grow and that loved each other deeply. Doug had two older brothers—Thomas (Tom) Benjamin, Jr. and James (Jim) Walter—two older sisters—Georgie and Lilly—a younger brother—Charles (Charlie) Leo—and two younger sisters—Rena Kay and Becky Margurete. 

Doug grew up in and around Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He learned how to work hard early in life, inspired by his parents and older siblings. He held jobs ranging from drug store prescription delivery boy to janitor before he graduated from Southeast High School. And that work ethic led him to briefly try and excel at the hardest of sports—wrestling—his senior year, when he was part of the first cohort of wrestling lettermen in Southeast’s history. While he wrestled at 141 pounds, he was drafted by the wrestling coach to participate after out arm-wrestling the biggest and strongest players on the football team his junior year. Doug also worked on a road crew responsible for paving some of the highways around Oklahoma City, and he experienced the oil fields that his father knew well, as a roughneck with his brother Jim.

Doug went to college at the University of Oklahoma, graduating with a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering in May of 1963. But, before that, he met Lou Ann Roach, the love of his life and lifelong companion, at the Baptist Student Union on OU’s campus in 1962. 

After graduation, Doug got a job in Amarillo, Texas, working for Mason & Hanger, which operated the Pantex nuclear weapons plant just outside Amarillo. Doug began work as an engineer but eventually transitioned into a management role, ultimately serving as the head of the physics department.

Doug carried on a long-distance relationship with Lou Ann until they married on November 26, 1966, and she joined him in Amarillo. 

Doug and Lou Ann’s first house was on the south side of I-40, east of Washington. They had several cats, and Doug built a cat tree house. He also got into art. Really into it. Doug learned to throw pots at Amarillo College, and he learned to sculpt from Tommy Hicks. Along the way, he also picked up drawing and even casting, a skill that allowed him to indulge in making all manner of jewelry, including pendants and broaches from big beetles and grasshoppers. And, as many know, he was a great admirer of Giacometti, whose work inspired many of Doug’s sketches and sculptures, and whose drawings Doug sought right up until his death.

Doug was so passionate about art that, together with Richard Brock, he opened a contemporary art gallery called Gallery II on South Polk Street in 1969. Their motto, printed on the back of their business cards, was “buy art.”

One of Doug’s other life-long passions was golf, which he learned to play under the guidance of Marvin Dick. Though he picked it up late in life, Doug tackled golf like everything else—with consistency and determination. He became a very solid ball striker and putter and broke 70 several times over the years. Golf also gave him a chance to bond with many different golfers who worked in other departments at Pantex via the golfing group that became known as the “Bandits.” And what an amazing group of friends they have been.

Doug and Lou Ann moved to their second house in early 1972. It was on the north side of I-40, but, like their first house, was still east of Washington. Later that year their first son, Mark Thomas, was born. In 1975, they welcomed their second son, Scott Wynn.

Doug loved his family tremendously. And there were no times during the raising of his boys that he didn’t enjoy. “No stages were better than others,” he shared with them as they became fathers, “I loved all of the times that I had with you two.” The Garretts enjoyed summer road trips. They covered 38 states in total and made three visits to Canada. The boys learned to fish and camp in and around the streams, rivers, and lakes of Colorado and New Mexico. Doug also liked spending time closer to home on Lake Meridith, fishing and water skiing with Mark and Scott.

It would be an understatement to say that Doug had a knack for and enjoyed fixing things—whether that thing was a car or something in or around a house. And he especially enjoyed fixing things with his friends, like Gene (Blackie) Blackwell. After retiring from Pantex in 2002, Doug and Lou Ann moved to River Falls and built their dream home in 2004. And while new homes require less fixing, Doug made sure to build a big shop on their property, just in case. When he wasn’t spending time with or caring for Lou Ann, or soaking in the landscape through their front windows, he would use the shop to solve problems and help friends, like Bobbi Mason, make art. 

Though not a veteran, Doug’s nearly forty-year career was devoted to protecting America. And his and Lou Ann’s new property reflected their shared love for our country. They built, and will forever have, the tallest flag pole in the entire development. 

Doug delighted in his grandkids, Claire, Luke, Ben, and Sarah, and enjoyed spending any time he could with them and keeping up with their sports and academic accomplishments. He also loved meeting and spending time with his River Falls neighbors, which opened up a whole new community to him and Lou Ann. 

Doug was loved and will be dearly missed by many, including his two boys and their families, and Doug’s extended family. Survivors include his son Mark Garrett and his wife, Emma, of Austin, Texas, and their children, Sarah and Ben; his son Scott Garrett and his wife, Dr. Nicole Corrigan-Garrett, of Frisco, Texas, and their children, Luke and Claire; his sister Kay Sheets and her husband, Dave, of Germantown Hills, Illinois; and his sister Becky Hicks and her husband Johnny of Mineral Wells, Texas. 

The family encourages donations in Doug’s memory to the Amarillo Museum of Art or the charity of your choice. Any flower donations may be directed to Boxwell Brothers.