It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Mary Ann Taylor Garrett, who died peacefully on May 12, 2025, surrounded by her loving family and friends. She had just celebrated her 77th birthday with her children and grandchildren engaging in the thing she loved best, spending time watching them run and play in a beautiful park near her home. Mary Ann loved the simple pleasures of her life while raising her family and visiting with friends. She loved her homes and gardens as much as she loved her people, and her last pet, Pinto the puppy. She enjoyed camping, hiking, and floating down the river, and looked forward to enjoying those activities every season for many years. Mary Ann was also an avid lover of live music, great fiction, and stimulating films. She could spend hours in a museum or art gallery reading every description and sparking up conversations with other patrons. She took her time. She was a wonderful conversationalist and could talk about anything under the sun and enjoyed a healthy debate on any subject. She was a philosopher, a writer and a poet, who would pen a poem after an important event or a meaningful conversation with a loved one. One of her greatest joys was celebrating birthdays, holidays, and reunions with her family and friends, from near and far.

Near the end of her life, she continued to handle her illness with grace, as she traveled to Massachusetts to join in celebrating her granddaughter's wedding. She didn't let a walker get in her way: She danced!  Finally, Mary Ann expressed great joy at returning to her Roman Catholic faith and receiving the sacraments once again, which brought her peace, especially during the last stages of her illness. She met some lovely people who became her friends. She also spoke very kindly of her associations with the medical care teams who treated her over the years and how they became a vital and important part of her daily life. Mary Ann was truly a force of nature, and she will be greatly missed by her family and friends and all who knew her.

Mary Ann Taylor was born on May 1, 1948, in Sacramento, CA to Howard Clinton Taylor and Claire Fisk Taylor. She was the first of six children born into a military family that moved many times during the first sixteen years of her life. After living in California briefly, the family was transferred to Anderson Air Force Base, Guam, USA. From there, they moved back to the United States and lived in San Antonio and Austin, TX, West Palm Beach, FL, Tachikawa AFB, Japan, Tinker AFB, Midwest City, OK, McGuire AFB, Lakehurst, NJ and then to Willingboro, NJ.  Mary Ann graduated from JFK High School in Willingboro, NJ in 1966 where she was an honor student and attended Montclair State University in Montclair, NJ and graduated with a BA in English Literature. Not long afterwards, she and her family moved to Missouri, which is where she lived for the rest of her life. Mary Ann settled in Buffalo, MO and embarked on her career as a high school English teacher. She later relocated to Springfield where she raised her children and continued her career working as a librarian in the Springfield Public Library until her retirement. She loved being with children of all ages and was a wonderful teacher and mentor to all who met her, but her favorite role was being a mom and grandmother.

Mary Ann is survived by her children: Eric Michael Ashwell; Marianne Kathleen Hibler; Matthew Ronald Howard Garrett; Amanda Claire Langsford (Breck); David Cory Garrett (April); and Jessica Rose Garrett (Calvin Petrus). Grandchildren: Brandon Ashwell; Courtney Giovinco (Peter); Samuel Ashwell; Brandon Bruton; Patience Hibler; Jacob Langsford, Joshua Langsford; Joseph Langsford; Breck Langsford; Caleb Garrett (Zoe); Christian Garrett; Cleopatra Garrett; Nova Petrus; and Lumen Petrus. Great-grandchildren: Tatum Garrett and Gianna Giovinco. Siblings:  Kathleen Claire Taylor; Nancy Ellen Taylor (Adriana); and Paul Anthony Taylor (Chenyin). Nieces and nephews: Peter Taylor; Taylor Cassidy; Nicholas Taylor; Morgan Taylor; Alexei Taylor; Liam Taylor; Eamon Taylor; and Owen Taylor; and several great nieces and nephews. Dear friends: Bob Ashwell and Judy Huntsl; Frances Woody and family; Lisa Lewis and Bill Petrus; Lisa Cooper; and Suzyn Hale and family.

Mary Ann is predeceased by her parents, Howard and Claire Taylor; her brothers, John Michael Taylor and William H. Taylor; and former husband Ronald L. Garrett.

There will be a Roman Catholic Mass at St. William Catholic Church at 10:00 a.m. on June 7, 2025, in Buffalo, MO, with a celebration of life to follow at Garrett Engineering.

In lieu of flowers, please donate in Mary Ann's memory to NPR and PBS local stations, Friends of The Dickerson Park Zoo, or Springfield's Friends of the Garden.

Arrangements have been entrusted to Midwest Cremation and Funeral Services of Springfield, MO.