WWII veteran, Lynbrook resident Edwin Garrison, 94

Edwin Lincoln Garrison

Edwin Lincoln Garrison, a World War II veteran and Lynbrook resident since 1953, died peacefully in his home on May 7. He was 94.

Garrison married his college sweetheart, Elaine, in 1949. A graduate of Brooklyn College, Columbia, and New York University, he began his career with the YMCA and years later moved into medical administration, first at Mount Sinai Hospital and later at HIP Medical Centers in Manhattan.

Garrison was actively involved in his church, and was a strong supporter of his wife’s many endeavors, including teaching and superintending Sunday school, assisting in the administration of the nursery school where Elaine taught, and supporting and assisting in the local chapter of Camp Fire Girls, which they founded together in the late 1950s. A lifelong swimmer, former lifeguard, swimming instructor and early member of the Bayonne Barnacles Scuba Club, Garrison stayed active into his 90s, bicycling everywhere.

To those in Lynbrook, he is best remembered as the generous Ebenezer Scrooge, who passed out candy to all on Halloween. Or Santa Claus, who would sit in the audience at Winter Concerts. Then some may know him better as the “Gorton’s man” riding his bicycle no matter the weather.

Ed was predeceased by his beloved wife in 2017. The family patriarch, he will be sorely missed by all he leaves behind, including his daughters, Elaine Price (Gaithersburg, Md.), Alice Garrison (Lynbrook), Nancy Chafetz (Lynbrook) and Roberta Garrison-Mogren (Glenelg, Md.); his grandchildren, Rachel Carr (Latham, N.Y.), Rebecca Kless (Germantown, Md.), Gary Chafetz (Amsterdam, N.Y.) and Cynthia Cook (Manchester, Md.); and his nine great-grandchildren, Carter and Joshua Carr, Behr, AJ, Pierson and Oliver Kless, and Ezekial, Clara and Millicent Cook.