Description
2 Signed first Editions The life of Pitser Garrison Bob Bowman. These are not just two signed copies of this book, these are from the Garrison Family and include all the legal paperwork, things submitted towards the publishing of the book, etc. I really didn't have time to look through it all but it's all important. These have to be the two most important copies of this book in existence I would think. Below is the bio of the estate they came from and it's significance. Both books with slight wear to dust jackets overall good, with all the paperwork included, not all of it shown.
Garrison Brothers Honored
Nathan Smith, Staff Writer
February 10, 2012
Homer and Pitser Garrison, brothers and graduates of LHS, were honored by the Lufkin High School Alumni Associtation (LHSAA), for their distinct service to Lufkin and the state of Texas.Texas Rangers, family members, and friends including Reba Garrison, wife of Pitser Garrison and Tommie Garrison West, niece of the brothers, and Mayor Jack Gorden gathered in the Honor Hall as the Rangers dedicated a framed piece with two pictures found by Ranger Rayburn as he was doing research about the Garrisons.The Rangers gave a presentation in memory of Homer Garrison’s life and read through his achievements as a law enforcement officer.Homer Garrison, who lived from 1901 to 1968, served as the Texas Ranger Chief and the first director of the Texas Department of Public Safety. He began his law enforcement career at age 19, after being appointed as a deputy-sheriff in Angelina County. His father told him he would never get anywhere in that “dead end job”, but Homer continued to work at the job and became a state license and weight inspector for the Texas Highway Department and joined the Texas Highway Patrol when it was organized in 1930.In 1935, the Texas Highway Patrol and the Texas Rangers were placed under the same director, and the Texas Department of Public Safety was created. Homer Garrison Jr. was named as the first Assistant Director, and was tasked with training new DPS officers.
His opportunities did not stop there, however. At the request of the governor of New Mexico, Homer was sent to help with the organization of the New Mexico State Police. He was even offered a position by Gen. Douglas MacArthur to structure Japan’s new police system, but declined so that he could stay with the Rangers an the DPS.
Eventually, Homer Garrison Jr. went on to become the director of the DPS and took his position as chief of the Rangers. Under his leadership, many new and groundbreaking programs were created for the organization, and by the time of his death, the organizations themselves emerged as one of the most powerful and efficient police forces in America.
Instead of choosing law enforcement like his older brother, Pitser Garrison chose a life of public political service in Lufkin and throughout the state of Texas.
Pitser attended Lon Morris College and the University of Texas Law School where he graduated in 1935. He served as a senior partner at the J.J. Collins law firm for almost 30 years, before becoming president of the Lufkin National Bank. In 1970, Pitser Garrison became the mayor of Lufkin until his resignation in 1988, and he served for 18 years, longer than any other Lufkin mayor.
Pitser was renowned for his hometown pride and his leadership skills during his career. He possessed a particular charisma and intellect and knew how to get things done.
“Before Pitser, the local Lufkin government was in a very unstable shape,” mayor Gorden said. “It was not uncommon to have a new city manager every few years. But he changed that. He brought a stability and a sense of unity to the Lufkin government.”
The character of each brother was just as much memorialized as the achievements they had while serving others.
“Homer was a glowing man with a real gift for working with people,” added his niece, Tommie West. “He just had a way of motivating you and making you feel good about yourself.”
And like his older brother, Pitser also had a way with people, and his kindness is still remembered by those close to him.
“Pitser was just the nicest man. He had a booming voice that could really get you,” said Reba Garrison, laughing. “Everybody looked up to him, everybody respected him, and he deserved it.”
These and other related items I'll be listing shortly are from the estate of multiple descendants of Homer Garrison Jr.
GARRISON, HOMER, JR. (1901-1968). Homer Garrison, Jr., Texas Ranger chief and director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, son of Homer and Mattie (Milam) Garrison, was born in Kickapoo, Anderson County, Texas, on July 21, 1901, the eldest of nine children. After graduation from Lufkin High School he went to work in the office of his father, who was district clerk in Angelina County. Garrison received his first experience as a law officer at nineteen, when was appointed a deputy sheriff of Angelina County. In 1929 he became a state license and weight inspector for the Texas Highway Department, and he joined the Texas Highway Patrol when it was organized in 1930.
When the Department of Public Safety was founded in August 1935 Garrison became the first assistant director. Among his initial duties was the task of developing a training program for DPS officers. At the request of the governor of New Mexico, he was sent to that state to help organize the New Mexico State Police. During World War II he was offered an appointment by Gen. Douglas MacArthur to reorganize and supervise the Japanese national police system for the War Department, but he declined in deference to his duties as director of the DPS and chief of the Texas Rangers.
Among the many honors bestowed upon him during the nearly thirty years he served as the head of the state law-enforcement agency was the presentation of the sixth Paul Gray Hoffman Award, conferred annually by the Automotive Safety Foundation for distinguished service in highway safety. In 1963 Governor John Connally appointed Garrison director of civil defense and disaster relief for the state of Texas and chairman of the State Defense Council. The same year the governor also named him director of the Governor's Highway Safety Commission. In May 1966 he was elected chairman of the resolutions committee and a member of the steering committee of the Southern Region Highway Policy Committee of the Council of State Governments; in January 1967 he was named a member of the National Motor Vehicle Safety Advisory Council.
Colonel Garrison became director of the Department of Public Safety and chief of the Texas Rangers in 1938. Under his leadership numerous major programs were developed, and the organization grew to a total of some 3,400 employees. The programs included crime control, police traffic supervision, driver licensing, vehicle inspection, safety responsibility, accident records, safety education, defense and disaster service, and police training.
Garrison married Mary Nell Kilgore on June 1, 1939, and they had one son. Garrison died on May 7, 1968, and was buried in the State Cemetery, Austin. A Texas Ranger museum at Fort Fisher was named for him.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ben Procter, "The Texas Rangers: An Overview," in The Texas Heritage, ed. Ben Procter and Archie P. McDonald (St. Louis: Forum, 1980). Vertical Files, Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin.
Bill Carter
"GARRISON, HOMER JR." The Handbook of Texas Online. [Accessed Wed Aug 7 11:36:57 US/Central 2002].
