Obituary

Garland B. Lott, who left an imprint on Plainview's community life as president of two civic clubs and as Plainview Chamber of Commerce president, died Thursday at Covenant Hospital. He was 84. Services will be at 2 p.m. Monday at Wood-Dunning Funeral Home. Mr. Lott, who led the chamber in 1969, was president of the Optimist Club before that and president of the Plainview Lions Club in 1978-79. He had been a mainstay among downtown Plainview merchants since 1951 when he worked for C.R. Anthony, then worked for Corcorran-Purcell Men's Wear (later Corcorran's) on Broadway from 1953-75 and operated two shops in the same block of Broadway - Hallmark Gift and Cards, which he and his wife owned with longtime friends Joe and Patsye Payne, and Garland Lott Art & Framing in the old Alexander-Neis Drug Store building. He joined the Mouser Insurance Agency as claims manager in 1978 and continued to work there until January when health problems sidelined him. He took semi-retirement in the late 1990s. His rise to president of the Lions in eight years might have been remarkable to any who didn't know him, but not to his friend and former KVOP Radio stalwart Tut Tawwater. "He was a real stemwinder," Tawwater recalled Saturday. Garland Lott was born Sept. 17, 1924, in Canyon to Olan and Viola Lott. He graduated from Lubbock High School in 1942 and, after studying electrical engineering for a year at what was then-Texas Technological College, joined the Army Air Corps in 1943, flying the B-24 Liberator, the B-25 Mitchell and the mightiest aircraft of World War II, the B-29 Flying Fortress. He flew surveillance missions along the West Coast and ferried crippled aircraft back to the States from the Pacific Theater. He was discharged in 1946 as a captain and moved to Plainview after his service. He worked initially as a salesman for Paymaster Seed with stints in Plainview, Amarillo and Abilene. Mr. Lott married Mary Kathryn Dyson, then living in Plainview, on March 11, 1950, in Clovis, N.M. Garland wanted to get hitched sooner than later and marrying in Clovis didn't take as much waiting as marrying in Texas. Their only son, Gary, was born on their first anniversary in 1951. Survivors include his wife, Kathryn, of the home; their son, Gary, of Austin; cousins Jake Finney and wife Paula of Plainview, and their family, and Bob Finney and wife Barbara of Muleshoe and family; and the legacy of more friends than most people ever enjoy, many still here but too many gone. The family suggests memorials to the Plainview Lions Club. His seat has been empty at what was called the "directors' table" at Lions Club meetings on Wednesdays at the Plainview Country Club for several months. Someone can now claim it, but it will never be filled.