Deaths: Mary Blackshear Garrett, GOP pioneer

Garrett, mother-in-law of former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, became involved in politics in the 1950s. Her early work included the presidential campaigns of Dwight Eisenhower and Barry Goldwater, and the gubernatorial bids of Jack Cox and Jim Granberry. She also served on the state Republican Executive Committee and in the Texas Federation of Republican Women.

Born to Robert and Carrie Blackshear in Corsicana in 1916, Garrett was involved in civic affairs in Brazoria County. She served on child welfare boards, chaired the local Red Cross chapter and was a member of the local historical museum. She also did substantial volunteer work with St. Anthony's Catholic Church and Angleton-Danbury General Hospital. In 1958, she started a clothing collection center for the poor at the old Brazoria County Courthouse.

"She was a grand lady who did a lot for her community and was loved by everyone," said Brazoria County Judge John Willy.

Garrett is survived by her husband of 66 years, rancher and rice farmer Jack Garrett. She was active in her husband's failed bid for state agriculture commissioner in 1966 and in the successful campaigns of Bill Clements, George Bush, John Tower and Phil Gramm.

"She and Jack were Republicans when you could have the state convention in a phone booth in Brazoria County," Willy said.

Garrett attended the University of Texas, where she was a Bluebonnet Belle. There she met her first husband, Jefferson Davis Farish, who died in a plane crash shortly after their marriage.

"She was living with Myra Farish, Jeff's mother, when she met and fell in love with Jack," said son-in-law John Lollar.A friend to presidents and ranch hands alike, Garrett had a caring personality that won over everyone she met, Lollar said.

"She was an incredibly warm and wonderful person," Lollar said. "She was the kind of person who wanted to know what you were doing and showed interest in everything you did."

Besides her husband, Garrett is survived by children Susan and James Baker, Klinka and John Lollar, Jacko and Nancy Garrett and Bob Garrett; sister Elizabeth Blackshear Mantor; and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

A memorial service for Garrett is scheduled for 10 a.m. today at St. Anthony's Catholic Church in Danbury.

Deaths elsewhere

Joel Rubenstein, a top aide to Peter Ueberroth with the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee and the baseball commissioner's office, Feb. 1 of complications from cancer, the commissioner's office said. He was 67. See sports, Page 12B.

Jose Luis Castillo-Puche, a prize-winning novelist and journalist whose friendship with Ernest Hemingway led him to write a memoir about the American author, of pneumonia Feb. 2 in hospital in Madrid, Spain. He was 84.