Douglas Oscar Garner

Oscar was born September 6, 1942 to Dorothy and Joseph (Snook) Garner in Charlotte Harbor, FL. He was raised in Homestead, FL, where he spent most of his adult life.

Oscar dedicated his life to community service. He was a City of Miami Firefighter for 27 years. After retiring he moved to Old Town, FL, where he became the Chief of the Old Town Volunteer Fire Department. He soon came out of retirement and became the Director of Emergency Management for Taylor County. He later moved to Sebring where he assumed the position of Director of Highlands County Emergency Management.

Oscar then began a second career and was the Area 6 Coordinator for the State of Florida Emergency Management and was in charge of 10 counties in Southwest Florida. He retired from the State four years ago and settled back in Old Town to spend time with his wife, Judy, his children and grandchildren.

On June 30, 2008 Oscar received the prestigious "Al Keaton Award" in recognition for his long service, leadership, and dedication to Florida Emergency Preparedness Association.

Oscar was preceeded in death by his daughter, Carrie Laine Garner.

He is survived by his wife, Judy, seven children, Douglas Garner of Miami, Scott (Amanda) Garner of Cross City, Crystal Garner of Old Town, Greg Parker of Old Town, Laura (Skip) Barnes-Miller of Cross City, Tim (Leslie) Parker of High Springs, and Jimbo (Jennifer) Parker of Old Town. Five grandchildren, Lauren (Patrick) Coyle of Clarksville, TN, Rachel Parker of High Springs, Scotty & William Garner of Cross City, and James Parker of Old Town.

He is also survived by two sisters, Velma (Jr.) Davis of Balm, Mary (Bill) Evans of Crystal River, and three brothers, Jerry (Ann) Garner of Tallahassee, David (Theresa) Garner of Palatka, and Dennis Garner of Kansas City, KS.


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Eulogy - Douglas "Oscar" Garner

Throughout his long and dedicated career Oscar would always tell you - “I am always a Fireman first.” And he truly was a Fireman’s Fireman. He loved nothing better than fighting fires and saving lives. That was the Oscar that everybody knew.

But who really was this man that both family and friends called “The Big O?” Go back to 1968 - City of Miami - Dade County, Florida. Numerous gangs of roving criminals were setting fires in the north end of the city, when the firemen arrived they were being shot at. Skip, a City of Miami Policeman, was assigned to accompany fire trucks to the scene. He noticed one of the firemen on the scene of a burning building wearing his bunker gear and strapped over that was a cowboy holster and in it - a 44 magnum. Later that day Skip bumped into a fire captain that he knew and asked him who the John Wayne was on the fire truck with the 44. The Captain said… “Oh, that’s just The Big O.”

And in 1972 Skip drove down to Homestead to look at an airboat for sale. When he pulled up in front of the house he saw the yard full of airboats and full track swamp buggies. When he asked for the man that had the airboat for sale - that he only knew as Oscar, up on top of the buggy came the answer, “That’s me, what do you want?” Skip told him he was there about an airboat for sale. Oscar said, “Climb on up and let’s talk about it.” He introduced himself as Big O. Skip asked him if he was a fireman and Oscar said “Yeah, what of it?” Skip told him, “Well, I guess I finally get to meet you. I was the cop down the street shooting the shotgun at the people who were shooting at you.” Oscar then reached under the seat, jerked out a bottle of "buttermilk" and said “In that case, I’d like to buy you a drink.”

16 years later Skip met this pretty girl from Homestead named Laura Barnes and started dating her. He thought it odd that for two months she never introduced him to her mother or step-father. Two months later when she did finally introduce Skip to her parents, as Skip walked inside of their home he said, “ Oh No…… it’s The Big O.”

Laura later told Skip that she had only introduced one guy to Oscar before, and by the time that Oscar and her Uncle Sam were through questioning him, the poor guy was breaking out in a sweat and she swore she’d never put anyone through that again.

Oscar was an amazing man. It seemed as if he never ran out of energy. Hunting, fishing, diving, lobstering, shrimping - he did it all.

He was never a patient person and as the story goes he once told Laura to call Greg and have him drive over and help him lift an airplane engine off of his airboat and onto a trailer. Big O probably waited a whole 4 ½ minutes for Greg to arrive when he just picked up the motor by himself and carried it to the trailer and sat it down - Laura was astonished as was Greg who had just pulled up in the driveway and saw him.

Then there was the time that Oscar and the family had a flat tire only to find that the jack wasn’t in the truck. Oscar told Greg to break the lugs loose and get out the spare tire. Oscar then walked over and put his back to the truck, picked the truck up off the ground and told Greg to change the tire quickly.

The Big O always said that he had the strength of 10 men in one arm. That’s an awesome burden, to carry 20 men around with you day and night, but Oscar did. You know…. sometimes we all wonder if he really didn’t have the strength of 20 men.

Then there was the time that Skip and Oscar went fishing in Key Largo when Oscar hooked a large sailfish. The fight went on for sometime and the sailfish began spooling the reel, when Skip went to crank the boat the motor wouldn’t start. Oscar told Skip to take the rod for a minute, he jumped into the water and he kicked and pushed the boat so that the line wouldn’t get caught in the engine and so he wouldn’t lose the fish.

Incidently, Oscar got the sailfish in the boat and it was a monster. Skip wanted Oscar to take the fish to a certified weigh station to see if was a record fish. As usual, Oscar was in a hurry. He always had other missions to perform and he told Skip to "just take it to the smokehouse". The sailfish was weighed at the smokehouse and even in 2009 it would still have been two pounds heavier than the State Record.

You have to understand that Oscar’s main mission in life was his family and to fight fires and save lives. He talked, ate, and breathed being a fireman. He truly enjoyed the years spent in Emergency Management but he would remind you that he was always a fireman first.

One could ask themselves what kind of man would shoulder the burden of marrying a woman with four children. But Oscar married his true love, Judy. He had two sons of his own and together they had a daughter. There were seven children being raised in their home and Oscar never treated his step-children - who had lost their own father - any different than his own.

Every weekend for years, Oscar would have all of the kids meet at the school yard to play a game of softball, then back to the house for a cookout and a game of volleyball in the pool. There were no excuses - everyone had better show up for family time together.

Oscar loved Christmastime. Even after the children were grown and married everyone had to come to the house for the annual Christmas Tree Decorating Party. He’d have Christmas music playing, Elvis of course, and he’d have Judy make a big meal and then everyone would decorate the tree together and at the very least you had to hang at least one ornament on the tree. This was a special event to Oscar and you had better be there.

Another thing about Oscar was the fact that while most kids growing up had dogs and cats as pets, but the Big O’s kids had alligators as pets. On and off throughout the years, gators ranging from 1 to 4 feet were the family pets.

When Laura found out she was pregnant Oscar was so excited about becoming a grandfather that he immediately jumped into his truck and drove up to Miami and came home a short while later with 10 City of Miami Fire Department Children’s T-Shirts. The next thing he did was go out and buy her a washer and dryer because she was going to need that too.

And when the time finally came for the baby to arrive, Oscar stayed with Laura in the Labor Room round the clock - almost forgetting that she had a husband to assume that role - and then came his first granddaughter, Lauren.

He did everything with Lauren and took her everywhere. Much later he would end up with another granddaughter named Rachel, and three grandsons, Scotty, William, and James. And they were all the apple of his eye.

Oscar lost a daughter, Carrie Laine Garner, at the tender age of one and a half years old and he always carried her around in his heart. After moving to Old Town he used to ask Laura and Skip to go to the Cemetery and check on her grave. Several weeks ago when they were down in Miami he asked them go and put flowers on her grave because he was too ill to go down there himself. Carrie Laine always remained deep in his heart.

In closing, Big O’s hero’s were John Wayne and Elvis Presley. Well, I guess he’s finally gotten to meet them both in Heaven, and we’re sure that Oscar has his daughter Carrie Laine sitting on his lap and they are riding around together in a Big Red Fire Truck in the sky.

May God Bless You….. Big O - there will never be another one like you, and you will be missed by each of us, everyday, until we meet again in Heaven.