Rio Vista, Texas, natives Carl Douglas Garner (1917-1972) and Alma Catherine Cooper (1922-1999) married in 1945, and the couple had five children: Mariann Wizard (1946-), Pamela Taylor, Douglas Garner, Patrick Garner, and Robert Garner. During World War II, Carl served in the Pacific Theatre for the U.S. Navy, while Catherine worked as an inspector for the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation after earning a certificate in Engineering, Science, and Management from the War Training Program of the University of Texas. Following the war, Carl worked as a factory superintendent for the Grubbs and Rutledge Potato Chip companies in Forth Worth. Upon the death of her husband, Catherine returned to Rio Vista, becoming the first female mail carrier for the Cleburne Post Office. During the 1980s and 1990s, she volunteered at the Walls Regional Hospital and was a lay leader for the Rio Vista Methodist Church.
From the guide to the Garner, Carl Douglas and Alma Catherine Cooper, papers 2000-105; 2001-103; 2003-103., [ca. 1920s]-2001, (Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin)
