Nancy Garrett passed away Thursday, January 8th, 2026. How do you sum up a life in a brief paragraph? She did so much and wanted to do so much more. She was born in Morven GA and raised in Canal Point FL. Family and friends from those days knew her as Carolyn Scruggs. She met and married Alvin Garrett in the Belle Glade FL before moving to Atlanta GA. They raised their two children, Mike and Matty, in Atlanta and later in Interlachen FL. After their divorce, she remained good friends with Alvin and his 2nd wife, Ilene, joining them for family gatherings and cardplaying. Mama lived in Atlanta, Interlachen, Gainesville FL, Fort Myers FL and Homerville GA throughout her life, multiple times in each, moving to address a family or personal need.

She worked almost her entire life as administrative assistant, secretary, bookkeeper, auditor, various roles in insurance and sales, with US Sugar in the Glades, Lowery Recording Studio in Atlanta (where she met Ray Stevens and Jerry Reed), Scientific Atlanta and Electro Magnetic Sciences, Florida Farm Bureau Insurance, Howard Hall Insurance, and the Clinch County Senior Center.

She loved playing cards and Mahjong. She played Hand-and-Foot Canasta regularly with friends and family, including the day before the stroke that ended her life. She loved playing the piano and could play almost anything you put in front of her. She loved writing and was always working on articles about the Scruggs family, life lessons, and chickens. She wrote and published a children’s book, Gladys scratches to the TOP, about a chicken.

She is survived by her daughter, Matty Garrett (Steve Cook), her sister, Jackie Padgett, and numerous close friends and family. She is preceded in death by her son, Michael Garrett, and her parents, Arnold Horne and Rachael Nan Harrington Scruggs.

Funeral services will be held Sunday, January 11th, at the First Baptist Church of Homerville, 534 S Church St, Homerville: 2:00-2:30pm Fellowship and Visitation, 2:30pm-3:00pm Funeral Service.

Online condolences may be shared at www.mclanecares.com.

Carson McLane Funeral Home