Brentwood Resident Clara Garrett has Died at 98

Long-time Brentwood resident Clara Garrett died on Sept. 16. She was 98.

Garrett was born in St. Louis in 1914. When she was in 7th grade, he father, Fred Engelhard, bought the then, Brentwood Inn, on Manchester Road and renamed it Engelhard’s Tavern. Garrett lived above the tavern with her family.

She went to St. Mary Magdalen for 7th and 8th grades, then after a year of business college, went to work. She married Nelson Garrett, from Maplewood, in 1936.

They had an apartment in Richmond Heights. Garrett was drafted when World War II war broke out. He was in California in the war, and she followed him out there.

After that, they came back to live in Brentwood. They had houses on Florence, then Eulalie. They had two girls, Ann, born in 1948, and Joan, in 1950. The sisters married the Nea brothers, from Maplewood.

Her daughter, Joan Nea, said Garrett’s hobbies were writing and shopping. Nea said she wrote a poem for each member of the family.

"There's nothing bad to say," Nea said. "She cooked and she cleaned and she helped us and she was always there for us."

Garrett was the St. Mary Magdalen cafeteria manager for 30 years. She hired Carole Haislip to be the cook at St. Mary Magdalen.

“She fell into my life and she was so good to me,” Haislip said. “She put a lot of faith in me.”

A memorial mass will be held on Saturday, September 22, 10:30 a.m. at Immaculate Conception Church, 2934 Marshall Ave., Maplewood.

See the obituary for Garrett in the St. Louis Post Dispatch.

Also in Patch:

Sports Attic Building Was Full of History