West Feliciana County Louisiana Archives Obituaries.....Garris, Captain Benjamin Lyons June 8, 2012
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Eddie Bennett http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00020.html#0004894 July 2, 2014, 9:03 pm

Charalet Funeral Home webpage
Captain Benjamin Lyons Garris, USAF (Ret.) was born in West Feliciana Parish 
on Nov. 12, 1922. His education included secondary schools in Louisiana and 
Georgia. He graduated from Eatonton High School (Georgia) at age 15. He 
attended Young Harris College in Georgia, Ursinus College in Pennsylvania, and 
graduated from L.S.U. At age 19, he volunteered for the Air Force. He was 
trained as a fighter pilot and served in the African and European theatres in 
WWII. His P-38 was shot down in combat over Italy and he was hospitalized for 
three years at Valley Forge General Hospital in Pennsylvania. His decorations 
include the Air Metal, Purple Heart, and Distinguished Service Cross. He 
married the former Ann Stubbs in 1943 and they had three daughters. His 
professional life included federal investigator, probation officer, associate 
warden at Angola, and many years as deputy director of the Louisiana 
Commission on Law Enforcement. Hobbies and interests included many years as a 
columnist for the St. Francisville Democrat, extensive reading, photography, 
hunting and fishing, gourmet cooking and as a talk show host on old station 
WLUX in Baton Rouge. He raised cattle and timber, raced greyhounds, wrote a 
humorous column on the internet after teaching himself the computer, and was a 
member of the West Feliciana Poker Club. He was passionately interested in 
politics and law, especially the right to bear arms, and was once a candidate 
for the Louisiana legislature. He deeply loved his country, was a conservative 
Republican and a life-long member of the American Legion and the National 
Rifle Association. 

Capt. Garris is survived by his wife, Ann, three children, five grandchildren, 
and fourteen great-grandchildren. His daughters are Taun Mizell, married to 
William "Bill" Mizell; Leah Wilcox, married to David Wilcox; and Karen Berman, 
married to Louis Berman. His five grandchildren are Leila Mizell Stagg, 
married to Lt. Col. Ben Stagg; Holly Mizell Anderson, married to Col. Jon 
Anderson; Dr. Ben Mizell (Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston); Garris 
Wilcox married to Kimberly Long of Baton Rouge, and Reed Wilcox married to 
Jennifer Cox of Dallas, Texas. His great-grandchildren are Heather, Jeffery, 
Jeremy, Nathaniel and Rebecca Stagg; Mark, Laura Ann, Gracie and Ashley 
Anderson; Caroline and Ann Garris Wilcox, and Hayes, Eloise and Clifford David 
Wilcox. 

Visitation will be held at Charlet Funeral Home in Zachary from 6:00 to 8:00 
P.M. on Wednesday, June 13, 2012. A private service will be held later at the 
family cemetery on Sage Hill Road. 


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