Adolph Lavelle "Pete" Garrett's Obituary
Adolph Lavelle “Pete” Garrett passed into eternity on April 20, 2024 at the age of 92 in Houston, Texas.
A proud native of East Texas, Pete was born August 24, 1931 in Goshen, Texas. He grew up in and around Huntsville, Texas in Walker County and was a 1948 graduate of Huntsville High School. After graduation, he enlisted in the Army and served in Europe as a radio operator before his discharge and subsequent move to Houston, where he would spend the rest of his life. After joining East Texas Motor Freight, he rose through the management ranks in the freight industry over four decades with ETMF, Big State Freight Lines, and Arkansas Best Freight prior to the industry deregulation of the early 1980s. Drawing upon his longtime interest in and aptitude for electronics, computer, and communication technologies, he subsequently launched a second career in retail electronics, where he cultivated a loyal base of customers who valued him as a trusted advisor.
On January 11, 1963, two like-minded East Texans were joined in matrimony as Pete married Bette Lou Mericle. They proceeded to settle into a new home north of Houston in the growing neighborhood of Hidden Valley, where they experienced many personal, local, national, and global changes over the course of their 58-year marriage. Pete was a well-known, active presence in the Hidden Valley Civic Club for many years, serving alongside his neighbors in multiple roles for the betterment of the neighborhood during that time.
Pete was an avid reader who enjoyed regular trips to the public library throughout his life. He was also a skilled woodworker who constructed many pieces of furniture from scratch for the household. When he wasn’t working, reading, or occasionally playing chess, he could frequently be found at one of his many personal computers. He was an early adopter of the Internet when it was still largely regarded as a hobbyist curiosity rather than the essential utility it ultimately became.
In his later years, Pete became a dedicated viewer of classic TV network MeTV as well as PBS, and was particularly fond of Westerns, British dramas and comedies, MAS*H, and the Andy Griffith Show.
Pete was the youngest of all his siblings. He was predeceased by his wife Bette, parents Sanford Gibbs Garrett and Inez Tucker Garrett, sisters Eula Garrett, Gladys Butler, Elsie Phillips, Ernestine Doughtie, and Doris Garrett, and brothers Wayne Garrett, Herbert Garrett, and Millard Garrett. He is survived by son David, daughter-in-law Tracy, and numerous nieces and nephews, and will be deeply missed by all who knew and loved him.
For those so inclined, a donation in Pete’s name can be made to the Disabled American Veterans (https://www.dav.org/) or American Cancer Society (https://www.cancer.org/).
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