John Bligh
- Retired teacher
Sally Garrett, an ELA teacher at Brooklyn’s IS 293 who started her career as a paraprofessional, quietly fought for equity and rights in the workplace. She died on Sept. 10, 2023, at age 90.
As a teenager in Virginia in the 1940s, Sally worked as a housekeeper and a cook, while attending high school, before moving with her husband Earl to New York and raising six children. In 1973, at age 40, she took a job as a paraprofessional at the school of one of her daughters.
Sally took advantage of the UFT’s Career Training Program to make the transition to teaching. While working as a para during the day, she attended classes and received her Bachelor of Arts in education from Medgar Evers College in the evening and later earned a master’s in special education from Brooklyn College.
She began teaching at IS 293, now known as the Boerum Hill School for International Studies, in the early 1980s.
“It wasn’t just a change in pay, it was a change in status,” said her daughter Gwendolyn Garrett Joly. “It was a big deal for our family.”
Sally spent her entire career at IS 293, where she also served as faculty advisor for the school’s yearbook. She retired in 1995.
Carmen Sanchez, Sally’s colleague at IS 293, remembered her as extraordinarily competent and self-possessed. “She was always immaculately dressed,” said Sanchez. “She was courteous and so well-prepared for every lesson. She was a ‘lady’s lady’ — well-liked by everyone, with great communication skills.”
In the early 1990s, Sanchez recalled, paras had their own separate lunch area, which rubbed Sally the wrong way. “So we did a quiet little campaign, you know, just talking to people and talking to the administration, and we got that changed.”
Sanchez also remembered that Sally had a classroom library full of books by African American writers “before there was really a push for diversity in school libraries. She didn’t make a big campaign about it, she just quietly did it. She had a good relationship with the school librarian, and she made it happen.”
Sally lived in the nearby Gowanus Houses and was a close neighbor to many of her students. Gwendolyn Garrett Joly recalled how her mother would keep tabs on those kids. “Growing up in the projects, everyone looked out for everyone else’s kids,” she said. “She would go to her students’ apartments and check on them. She would tell their parents if they didn’t do their homework!”
Family was a keystone of Sally’s life. She and Earl, who had five biological children, also took care of a friend of their son’s and embraced the boy as a full member of their family. Sally and Earl always made room in their three-bedroom apartment for nieces and nephews coming north to establish themselves in New York City, Gwendolyn Garrett Joly said.
Sally passed on her passion for teaching and her support of unionism to her children, three of whom were or are New York City public school teachers. Gwendolyn Garrett Joly served as a UFT chapter leader and a NYSUT and AFT delegate, and Denise Garrett Dowers served as a UFT delegate.
“My mother was adamant that everyone has rights,” said Gwendolyn Garrett Joly. “In the south, she was denied a lot of opportunities because of her race.”
In retirement, Sally and Earl returned to their hometown of Dillwyn, Virginia. Sally was a dedicated member of the Fork Union Baptist Church, where she served as a missionary and volunteered in the reading program for four-year-olds at a local elementary school.
Throughout her life, Sally was an excellent cook and baker. When she lived in Gowanus Houses, she was known for her fresh-baked bread. “She was famous for her rolls. People would ask me, ‘Did your mother make rolls today?'” said Gwendolyn Garrett Joly. In retirement in Virginia, Sally continued making bread daily.
Sally was predeceased by Earl and one child, Earl Garrett, Jr. She is survived by five children: Gwendolyn Garrett Joly, Denise Garrett Dowers, Anthony Garrett, David Trapp, and Christopher Garrett; four grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and five siblings.
Condolences can be sent to the
Garrett family
PO Box 948
Dillwyn, VA 23936.
