SOUTHERN PINES — So lovely, Chyrl Garrett-Weber was throughout her life.
Lovely, with a soft and gentle way for all of her days.
“We loved her so much,” Ronald Garrett would say on this December afternoon at the Celebration of Life for his sister at Community Congregation Church. “She was a lovely person, A beautiful person.
"We were not expecting to lose someone so fast.”
You could see the sorrow in a brother’s eyes. You could feel the grief and sadness in a brother’s heart, and relate to those memories of yesteryear when growing up as youngsters and teenagers on 122 Ruth Street in the old Haymount neighborhood of Fayetteville.
“When Chryl was very young, she loved to play house,” a brother would remember. “She liked to organize things. She had a talent. She could draw portraits and pictures. In class, she drew a picture of our teacher, and it looked just like her. She was very popular in school.”
Popular, for sure, in the class of 1972 at Terry Sanford High, but never pretentious. She was a touch shy and reserved, some might say, but always with those kind blue eyes and that pretty smile upon her face. She was soft-spoken and always polite in manner. She was Chryl Garrett, and it was just Chryl Garrett’s way.
Eyes and hands of an artist
She found her vocational niche at age 21, when taking her artistic talents to Putt-Putt Golf Courses of America to lead the franchise company’s art department for more than 20 years. Her pen and pencil designs were a part of the golf course landscapes and the many faces and personalities of the business and the games the professionals and amateurs liked to play.
Her artistic skills were known throughout the community, and today you’ll find Chryl Garrett’s illustrations, watercolors, pastels and oil paintings in the living rooms, dens and walls of many Fayetteville homes.
Commercially, she later was called upon by builders for home design illustrations and worked with the Homebuilders Association of Fayetteville for publications of its Parade of Homes.
“But what she was most proud,” Ronald Garrett would say, “was her children and grandchildren.”
Hope for tomorrows to come
She enjoyed summer days along the Grand Strand at Myrtle Beach, the majestic view of the Blue Ridge mountains, golfing and shopping with her girlfriends, spending time with her fiancé at their Pinehurst home overlooking the lake and cuddling with Snoopy and Linus, those beloved Shih-Tzus that brought her joy.
“We loved her so much,” a brother would remind us once, and time and time again on this Dec. 9 day of farewell.
The stage 4 diagnosis of lung cancer came on Oct. 11, her birthday.
“The bad news is it’s not curable,” she would write in an email to a friend. “But the good news is it’s treatable.”
There was a son, a daughter, a mother, grandchildren and siblings to be with, and her many friends. Sandy beaches to stroll and mountains not yet seen.
“She never had anything bad to say about anyone.,” longtime friend Jimmy Townsend says. “And I can tell you, she loved her family.”
‘It’s how we live’
Chyrl Gray Garrett-Weber died Nov. 14 at Duke Raleigh Hospital, a son and daughter and family members by her side.
She was 69.
Life, the Rev. Tony Smith would say, is our gift from God.
“It doesn’t matter when we enter this life,” the pastor would say. “It’s how we live it. Chryl lived a life worth living, and we can take comfort in that. We thank you, Jesus, for her time on this earth, and the hearts and the lives she touched.”
A younger sister would remember.
“She was a beautiful person who lit up a room with her presence,” Gwin Williamson says. “She was a wonderful big sister, daughter, mother, friend, person. She had many friends and will be missed greatly.”
Epilogue
Chryl Garrett-Weber was a lovely woman, with her soft and gentle ways.
“Our days in this life are not guaranteed, and then we are gone,” the pastor would remind us. “And we want more.”
A crestfallen brother would remember a sister once more.
“We loved her so much,” Ronald Garrett would say on this somber December afternoon of goodbye. “She was a lovely person, A beautiful person. And now she is in a loving God’s hands, and we will see her again.”
Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.
