The passing of Levi Fewel "L.F." Garrett, Jr., on Tuesday leaves a void in many places around Montezuma County. After a career as a successful businessman and citizen in the Kansas City, Kan., area, Garrett retired in 1989 from Garrett and Holmes Produce Company, a business his father co-founded. After a nine-month stint as a consultant in Tulsa, Okla., he and his wife, Margaret ("Marge") moved to the Mancos Valley.

"He came here to retire, but what he did was, he really committed to the economic development of the community," said Kathy Rousset, director of Pueblo Community College’s Southwest Center.

Rousset and others hailed him as a mentor. Garrett was an eight-year member of the college’s Advisory Council, an ex officio member of its Advisory committee, and a long-time member of the Center’s Foundation.

"Levi was a soft-spoken person who got involved at PCC because he deeply cared about students and education," said Dr. Joe May, president of PCC. He also served on the Fort Lewis College Foundation board and had been president of the Mancos School Board.

World War II was tearing apart Europe when Garrett was in his twenties. As a captain in the Army, he was on a ship crossing the English Channel on Christmas Eve, 1944, headed for the Battle of the Bulge, when a German submarine hit his convoy so hard they could not continue. He remained in France the rest of the war, and then served in the Army of Occupation in Austria. A member of the John Derrick Halls VFW Post #5231, he commanded the Mancos VFW post from July 1997 to June 1999.

Economic development was a continuing interest in his life. He was an early supporter of the Montezuma County Economic Development Council and was president of MCEDC at the time of his death.

The experiences of senior citizens concerned him deeply, and he chaired both the Area Agency on Aging Board and Montezuma County Senior Advisory Board. "He worked in quiet ways," says Sue Fletcher, Director of the Senior Nutrition Outreach Program, who credits Garrett with being instrumental in getting the first transportation for seniors in the county.