Kerry Garside

Barbara Lawrence Garside died at her home in Norfolk on July 26, 2024, fittingly on the first day of the Paris Summer Olympics, a sporting event she loved.

Kerry – as she was known to all – was born in 1935 in New York City to Barbara Childs Lawrence and James Freeman Lawrence. The first of six children, Kerry attended Chapin School and graduated from Foxcroft School. Her early summers were spent in Norfolk at her grandparents’ house, Coolwater.

Pursuing her love for education, Kerry graduated from Smith College and continued to Harvard to earn a master’s degree in teaching. She taught at The Elisabeth Morrow School in New Jersey, and The Potomac School in Virginia. Her students and children both benefited from her deep knowledge of history and math, her two main subjects.

Kerry married Grenville Garside in 1961. Moving to Washington, D.C., in 1968, they lived there for the next 30 years, raising their three children, Betsy, Jon and Zang. The family continued to spend summers and holidays in Norfolk, in a rescued farmhouse in the Grantville area.

After family, Kerry’s dedication was to the schools she loved. She devoted 11 years of service to Washington’s Sheridan School, culminating in leading the board of trustees. In 1983 she was recognized for her work by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, the only elementary-school volunteer so honored. She also served on the board of Foxcroft School and as a member of the Parents Council of Washington, a nonprofit addressing problems confronting adolescents. In her later D.C. years, she trained as a tutor and worked at Episcopal High School in Virginia teaching study skills and Scholastic Aptitude Test preparation.

Kerry and Gren moved full time to her beloved Norfolk in 1998. She continued her master-level organizing and complemented it by earning the honorary title of “Auntie White Thumb” from her nieces. If something needed complex cleaning or care, she was your person. She wielded a fleet of tools in service of cleaning historical objects and restoring family heirlooms, and she even picked up all the trash along South Norfolk roads. She could be spotted zooming around town in Gren’s vintage green Jeep, off to a family gathering or for a consult on a project that needed her organizational skills.

In addition to family, Kerry was supported in her final years and months by a constellation of caring stars, notably Madeline Falk, Theresa O’Malley, Beatrice Agyemang Badu and the team at Visiting Nurse & Hospice of Litchfield County. She is survived by her three children and their spouses: Betsy Garside and Stephen Warren, Jon and Shauna Garside, and Zang Garside and Nicole Outsen; her four grandchildren: Charlie, Henry, Finn and Kaya Garside; her siblings Susannah Lawrence Wood and Starling Lawrence; her forever friend and sister-in-law Helen Garside Randolph; and a host of beloved cousins, nieces, nephews, and their offspring. She was predeceased by her husband Gren Garside, sister Jane Lawrence Mali, and brothers Peter and Vint Lawrence. 

A memorial service will be held at the Church of Christ Congregational in Norfolk on Saturday, Oct. 19 at 11 a.m. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Norfolk Volunteer Ambulance, P.O. Box 399, Norfolk, Conn., 06058. Kerry remarked often how wonderful it was to live in Norfolk, where people look out for each other.