Anna Cupp Garlington

Graveside services will be held at 11:00 am Tuesday, Feb. 3 at Huckabay Cemetery for Huckabay native Anna Foystine Cupp Garlington, 93, who died Jan. 24 in Concord, California where she had lived for much of the last 65 years. Mrs. Garlington was born Nov. 11, 1915, the eldest of six children born to William Roscoe Cupp and Ollie May Henderson Cupp, members of one-time prominent Huckabay families. When she was very young, Mrs. Garlington and her parents moved to Dallas where she grew up attending Dallas schools. The family was a regular visitor to Huckabay on weekends, holidays and vacations. Her paternal grandparents were William and Caroline Day Cupp who moved their family of four sons and one daughter from their native Tennessee to Huckabay in 1904. The Cupps were area farmers and active in community events until their deaths in the 1930s. At one time Mr. Cupp delivered the mail and two sons, Howard and Ballard, served as postmasters. Mrs. Garlington's cousin Virginia Cupp Howard was postmistress until her death in 1966 when the Huckabay Post Office ceased operation. As a teen, Mrs. Garlington, her father and siblings returned to Huckabay and she attended the local high school 1932-1933 before returning to Dallas where she graduated from Dallas Technical High School in 1934. While in high school, she received numerous awards for her art work and penmanship. Following high school she attended nursing school at Parkland Hospital in Dallas. A broken foot prevented her from graduating with her class, but she later worked as a home nurse. It was while on an assignment as a private nurse in West Texas that she met her future husband, Joseph Donald Garlington, a rancher in Vincent, Howard Co., Texas. They were married in Coahoma on Aug. 9, 1936. The young couple operated their ranch in Vincent until 1941 when they gave up ranching and moved to San Francisco, California. During World War II, the Garlingtons worked at the Richmond shipyards as welders where they helped make the famed Liberty ships that carried troops and supplies to soldiers fighting in the Pacific. They bought a home in Concord, 35 miles east of San Francisco, in 1942. At the war's conclusion, Mrs. Garlington worked for several years as a nurse at the Contra Costa County Regional Hospital, then settled in as a homemaker and community volunteer. Mrs. Garlington, a 62-year member of Rebecca Lodge No. 228, served as Noble Grand and held numerous other offices during her active years. She also served as president of the Past Noble Grand Club and was active in PTA and Scouts when her children were young. Mrs. Garlington's husband became an accountant and operated his own business in Concord until 1949 when he sold the business and began a long career as an auditor with the U.S. Army Audit Agency. An early assignment took the Garlingtons to Japan. While there, Mrs. Garlington pursued her interest in flower arranging and studied under one of Japan's leading flower arranging masters, Mrs. Saigetsu Yamamoto of Yokohama. She earned a teacher's credential from the Kofu School of Ikebana style of flower arranging. In 1959 the Garlingtons were transferred to Southern California, where Mrs. Garlington worked as a retail sales clerk at Robinson's Department Store in Pasadena. In 1969 she returned to their Concord home and worked for Rhodes Department Store which was bought by Liberty House while she worked there. She retired in 1979. Alzheimer's disease curtailed her activities in later life and she resided for the past 10 years in a Concord skilled nursing home. Mrs. Garlington is survived by her son and his wife, Don and Karen; daughter, Jo Ann; three grandsons, Steve, Mike and Joe Sr; four great grandchildren, Joe Jr., Rachel, Jon and Nathaniel Garlington, all of California. Sister Mozelle Massey and cousin I.B. Cupp, live in Dallas. Predeceased are brothers William Dean Cupp and Joseph Hiram Cupp, sisters Wilma Mae Smith and Nell Covington.