Augusta, GA – Entered into rest Monday, May 6, 2019, The Reverend Lawrence A. Garvey, husband of 55 years to Donna Garvey. Reverend Garvey was born to Lawrence and Lorraine Carrigan Garvey in Jamaica, New York City. He lived in Brooklyn, New York for the first 37 years of his life.
In 1963, while a graduate student at the University of Michigan he married Donna Lee Cole. They returned to Brooklyn in 1964, moving to Indiana in 1977 where they resided in Summitville. They retired to South Carolina in 2003.
Reverend Garvey was a graduate of LaSalle Academy on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and received his bachelors degree, magna cum laude, from Brooklyn College in 1961. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in that year, and remained active in the academic honor society for the rest of his life. He was also elected to Alpha Kappa Delta, the national sociological honor society.
In 1981 he received the Master of Divinity degree from the Earlham School of Religion in Richmond, Indiana. He also studied at the University of Michigan, the New School for Social Research, New York University and the New York School of the Visual Arts. From 1961 until 1977 when he was called into the Ministry, he worked as a social worker for the New York City Department of Social Services.
During that time he served in Child Protective Services, the New York City Family Courts, and concluded his social work career as special assistant to the Commissioner of Child Welfare. Upon graduation from the Earlham School of Religion he was the founding pastor of the Cornerstone Community Church in Alexandria, Indiana. He served as pastor from 1981 until his retirement as Pastor Emeritus in 2003.
He was a member of both the Summitville and the Madison County Ministerial Associations. Reverend Garvey was active in body-building and power-lifting for much of his life. He was a member of the Grant County YMCA and various weightlifting organizations.
He loved the music of Bach and Mozart, as well as literature, biography and history. From childhood he was interested in stamp collecting, specializing in early Irish and English stamps. He was a member of the American Philatelic Society and the Eire Philatelic Society.
Reverend Garvey wrote every day for most of his adulthood. Revered Garvey is survived by his wife: Donna; three daughters: Rosemarie (Paul) Handy of Marietta, Georgia; Caitlin (Jeff Dunkelberger) Garvey of Alexandria, Virginia; and Morgan (Ricky) Rhodes of Jackson, South Carolina; a sister: Barbara Proulx of Warren, Rhode Island; four grandchildren: Timothy A. Handy (Kayla), Kaitlin Rhodes, Lucas A. Garvey, and Liam R. Garvey; great grandchild Hannah I. Handy; numerous cousins, nephews and nieces in both the United States and Canada. His parents, a sister Rosemarie, and two brothers, Joseph and John, preceded him in death.
Funeral services will be held Thursday, May 9, 2019 at 11:00 A.M. at the Church of the Holy Comforter with Dr. Cynthia Taylor officiating. A reception will follow. Memorial contributions may be made to the Church of the Holy Comforter at 473 Furys Ferry Rd, Martinez, GA 30907.
Thomas Poteet & Son Funeral Directors, 214 Davis Rd. , Augusta, GA 30907 (706) 364-8484. To send flowers or a memorial gift to the family of Rev.
Lawrence A. Garvey please visit our Sympathy Store.
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