Distinguished Alumni
Eleanor Paxton Smith Garrett
Awarded 2008
A former teacher, Eleanor Garrett, along with her husband, Charles, established Garrett Electronics, Inc., a metal detection empire whose name is recognized globally.
Their products have been used by the airline industry, numerous Olympic games—including the upcoming 2010 games in Vancouver—and treasure hunters for security and hobby.
Garrett is a 1954 and 1955 graduate of SHSU, with a Bachelor of Science degree in elementary education and a Master of Education degree, respectively.
After graduating, she taught in Trinity County, Beaumont and Garland. Later, she developed and directed a kindergarten program at Orchard Hills Baptist Church, also in Garland.
The startup capital for the Garrett electronics company, founded in 1962, came from her Texas Teacher Retirement System funds to help create and market the device designed by her husband.
Today air travelers around the world either walk through a Garrett detector or are scanned with a Garrett hand-held wand, and Olympic athletes are protected during games by security devices built at the family-operated factory in Garland.
Garrett has been commissioned as a “Yellow Rose of Texas,” an honorary recognition granted only by the Texas governor.
She is a 50-year member of the Order of the Eastern Star, a charter member of the Garland Women’s Building, an SHSU Alumni Association Life Member and a life member of the Dallas Genealogical Society. She also participates in a number of lineage-related societies, such as the Magna Charta Dames and Barons.
In addition to managing their electronics company, she and Charles maintain a tree farm in East Texas and were honored with the 2002 Tree Farmer of the Year award.
The Garretts have three children: Charles Lewis Garrett Jr., Deidre Lynne Hasselbach and Vaughan Lamar Garrett.