Lorraine Erskine Garland, 89, of Jamestown, RI and Bradenton, FL, died peacefully with her family present on December 28, 2018 in Medway, MA.
She was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on December 9, 1929, the daughter of Madeleine Ellis and Frank Erskine. Lorraine spent her childhood in Massachusetts, Maine and Virginia with her mother, Madeleine, and her stepfather, Alan D. Kinsley. She was an only child. Lorraine raised her children in Princeton, NJ. Later in life, she spent winters in Sarasota, FL and summers in Jamestown, RI.
Lorraine was a graduate of Dana Hall School in Wellesley, MA. She met her husband, Philip (“Pete”) Lincoln Garland, Jr., while studying Landscape Architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI. She believed in civic engagement, participated in local government and provided leadership to local associations including the Parent Teacher Association of her daughters’ school and the annual ‘fete,’ a fundraiser for the Princeton hospital. Lorraine was also a productive real estate agent in New Jersey’s Morris and Mercer counties, working for many years at Stockton Real Estate in Princeton, NJ.
Lorraine was a loyal and devoted mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. Throughout her life, Lorraine’s greatest pleasure was in bringing people together. She hosted her grandchildren for dinner nearly every evening each summer in Jamestown, RI. Lorraine was ever-present for her children and grandchildren and was a strong influence in their lives.
In addition to strong family bonds, Lorraine developed lifelong bonds and strong friendships founded on respect and courtesy for everyone she encountered.
In Princeton, NJ, Lorraine volunteered her home for several years to house business school exchange students from Holland. She opened her home and her heart to these young students expanding their lives and her own family’s with life-long friendships. Later, she traveled to the Netherlands, and was hosted by those that she had once hosted.
Throughout her life, Lorraine was a wonderful hostess. She always went over the top to ensure everyone felt welcome. Her dinner parties, cocktail parties, and New Year’s Eve gatherings were always marked by a diverse crowd, interesting personalities, and joie de vivre. And always done in her inimitable style of comfortable, casual elegance!
No matter what was going on in her life, she always had time to engage in conversation, invite you in for incredibly strong black coffee, or to talk on the phone. Lorraine was genuinely interested in and encouraging of what others were involved in and pursuing.
She exhibited a rare and wonderful combination of incredible strength and genuine, unending warmth. For the benefit of others, she barely acknowledged and never discussed issues or challenges of her own. She was, in the best sense of the phrase, made of strong New England stock.
Her characteristic generosity, grace and inner strength inspired and lifted others up. One always felt that she believed in you more than you may believe in yourself, and that she was unconditionally supportive of you.
Lorraine also had a fantastic sense of humor and ability to employ the English language with insightful one-liners that cut right to the heart of the matter and cracked up the room. She may criticize a bad idea, but never directly the person espousing such “malarkey” or “baloney.” Grandchildren were affectionately “Bean Pole,” “Old Long Legs,” “Little Miss Muffat,” and the like. In her presence, one always felt the warmth of spirit and twinkle-in-the-eye that accompanied her comments and conversation. When served a meal, she would inevitably comment, “Why that’s enough to feed ten armies!”
She believed firmly in good manners, but was never unnecessarily formal. Grandchildren had better not have their elbows on the table; however dogs were welcome to be underfoot or under the dinner table and would probably not be hungry by the end of the meal!
As a child, she always had dogs, and lived her life surrounded by many beloved four-legged companions, from Tuffy, her childhood Scottish Terrier, followed by Irish Water Spaniels, Poodles, Newfoundlands, Irish Wolfhounds, and a pair of Dachshunds. Her final companion was Ares, a “rescue” poodle, who never left her side. The Princeton home was a menagerie of cats, guinea pigs, and ducks, alongside all of the dogs. Lorraine was a founding member of the Irish Wolfhound Association of the Delaware Valley. She also had a lifelong love of horses. She was an equestrian and able coachwoman in her younger years, and an early supporter and frequent guest at polo matches in Newport, RI and Sarasota, FL.
Lorraine also loved tennis, and for many years was a boxholder at the grass court Hall of Fame Tennis Championships each summer in Newport, RI. As a landscape architect, her homes were always surrounded by magnificent gardens and beautiful flowers. She instilled her passion for all of these hobbies in her children and grandchildren. Goodness gracious and Heavens to Betsy, Lorraine lived such a long and rich life!
Lorraine is survived by her former husband Philip Lincoln Garland, Jr., of Englewood, FL and Chatham, MA, and her children, Thomas Alan Garland, Katherine Garland Presswood, and Elizabeth Garland Deardorff. She also leaves behind three beloved grandchildren, Taylor, Whitney, and Sam. Finally, she will be missed by five great-grandchildren, Winston, Madeleine, Aiden, Fiona, and Ethan.
In lieu of flowers, donations will be welcome to the memory of Lorraine Garland to the Irish Wolfhound Foundation, David Milne, Treasurer, 150 Creek Rd., Phillipsburg, NJ 08865, Florida Poodle Rescue, P.O. Box 7336, St. Petersburg, FL 33734, Salmon Hospice, 37 Birch St., Milford, MA 01757 or Milford Regional Healthcare Foundation, 14 Prospect St., Milford, MA 01757.