A Memorial Celebration of

the Life and Work Of

Dee Garrison, Historian of Women and Peace (1934-2009)

You are invited to attend a memorial celebration of the life and work of Professor Lora Doris (“Dee”) Garrison, on Thursday, October 15, at 4 p.m. in Winants Hall on the College Avenue campus of Rutgers University.  Dee, who died peacefully in her sleep on July 23, 2009, is deeply missed by family, friends, students, and colleagues, who will share their memories of her at this event, which will be followed by a reception at which all are welcome.

Dee Garrison was a gifted, lively, engaging and totally dedicated historian and activist. Her causes were social justice, women’s rights, peace, and disarmament. Born in Cleburne, Texas, in 1934 and raised in the Corpus Christi area, Dee married a military officer, had two sons, and traveled widely with her family, even as she worked to complete a B.A. from California State College at Fullerton and a Ph.D. in History at the University of California at Irvine. In 1972, she accepted a position in the History Department at Livingston College, a newly opened, innovative, undergraduate component of Rutgers University committed to “Strength through Diversity.”

            An active scholar and teacher, Dee published influential books on women and on peace. Her dissertation on the professionalization and feminization of public librarianship, at the turn of the century was published by Macmillan in 1979 as Apostles of Culture: the Public Librarian and American Society 1876-1920. It was subsequently translated into Japanese and German. Dee then turned to women and protest movements. Her biography, Mary Heaton Vorse: The Life of an American Insurgent published by Temple University Press in 1989, was a vivid portrayal of a fiery labor journalist, feminist, and crusader against war and oppressive working conditions and for women’s suffrage and other rights in the first half of the 20^th Century. The book was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Her work on women’s opposition to war also led to several articles and to her final book, Bracing for Armageddon: Why Civil Defense Never Worked, which was published by Oxford University Press in 2006. It emphasized the role of women in the effective civil defense protest movement in the late 1950s and early1960s in demonstrating the ludicrousness of the U.S. Government proposals for a program of massive evacuation, protective shelter and emergency relief in case of nuclear attack upon the United States.

            After teaching at Rutgers for 33 years, Dee retired in 2005 as Professor Emerita of History and Women’s Studies. She was a pioneer in women’s studies and an expert on the ‘60s and the peace and labor movements. A co-creator of the women’s studies program at Rutgers, she served as Chair of the program and trained numerous graduate students in women’s history as well as in peace history. The recipient of many awards, she was perhaps proudest of two she received in 1995: a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation grant for research on peace and international cooperation, and the Livingston College Alumni Teaching Award for inspirational teaching

            As an active member of the Peace History Society, Dee served from 1993 to 1998 on the national selection committee for the Charles DeBenedetti Prize, and she was elected a member of the PHS Board of Directors, 1999-2002.

            Dee championed the rights of the working class, especially working women, and the causes of peace and social justice. She was an inspiring scholar, teacher, colleague, and friend. Dee’s first marriage ended in divorce, and she later married John Leggett, a Professor of Sociology at Rutgers. Their love was reflected in John’s book The 18 Stages of Love.  Dee also loved her friends and the conversations, meals and ideas she shared.  Her humanity, wit, and radiant spirit will be missed by all.

She is survived by her husband, John Leggett also of Sunrise Senior Living in East Brunswick; her sons, Tray Garrison of Riverside, California and Marty Garrison of Santa Ana, California; her stepdaughters, Britt Leggett of Edmonds, Washington and Shannon Leggett of Prague, Czech Republic; her sister, Jeanne Randall of Fullerton, California, and her grandchildren, Travis, David, and Troy Garrison and Marie Leggett-Vasilieva.

            A Memorial Fund honoring Dee’s memory has been established at Rutgers University. Donations may be made to the Rutgers University Foundation, 120 Albany Street, Suite 201, New Brunswick, NJ, 08901 and designated for the Dee Garrison Fund for Rutgers Graduate Students in Women’s History.  In addition, the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, 162 Ryders Lane, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, welcomes contributions to support a new award in Dee Garrison’s name for an undergraduate student working in the field of peace studies.

Parking for Guests to University available in Lot 1 (next to Kirkpatrick Chapel)

[Faculty, Staff, and Students must park in authorized lots]

Driving Directions to Winants Hall and Street Map

http://search.rutgers.edu/buildings.html?q=winants%20hall

Below is a link to an interview (two versions) with Dee Garrison done in February by Louise Michaels, a filmmaker/photographer from New England.  Ms. Michaels was inspired to do the interview after reading Dee's book on Mary Heaton Vorse.

http://www.wingspread.tv/categories/index.html?menuID=5&subMenuID=0&flvID=0