Gerald M. Garmon (1932-2015) was born in Washington, D.C., to Orion Meredith Garmon and Flora Hatch Garmon. He graduated from John Marshall High School in Richmond, Virginia, and attended the University of Richmond, receiving both bachelor’s and master’s degrees with a major in English. He married Mary Lucille Burnett in 1956. They had a son, Stephen Meredith, and daughter, Alizon Margaret. He began doctoral studies at the University of Virginia, then taught at North Carolina Wesleyan College, before completing his Ph.D. at Auburn University. He moved to Carrollton in 1967 to join the English Department faculty at what was then West Georgia College, where he taught for 29 years before retiring in 1996.

In addition to teaching an estimated 300 English classes over his career, he was instrumental in reviving the Georgia-South Carolina College English Association, organized several Tolkien symposia at Modern Language Association meetings, organized a conference, “The Word and World of Discovery,” in 1992, and was active with the American Association of University Professors, the West Georgia chapter of which he served as president. He authored a biography of the American poet, journalist, and editor, John Reuben Thompson, and his dissertation, Tragic Realism in English Literature, was published in 1988.

Garmon was active in the Carrollton Optimist Club for over 40 years, serving as the club’s newsletter editor, director of its annual Oratorical Contest, and twice serving terms as president. He was active with Common Cause and served as secretary of the West Georgia chapter. He was a founding board member of the West Georgia Credit Union, later absorbed into the Southern Credit Union. He served as president of the West Georgia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Gerald Garmon died from Alzheimer’s disease in 2015.