Mike Garlington

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December 17, 1943 – June 23, 2015

Mike Garlington, 71, went to be with our Lord on Tuesday, June 23, 2015. A memorial service will be held at the American Legion, 1245 N. Industrial Blvd, Bedford, TX 76021 on Friday, July 3rd at 11 AM.
Mike was born to Charles and Ponnie Garlington in Little Rock Arkansas. He grew up in El Dorado Arkansas and graduated from El Dorado High School and the University of Arkansas with a Master’s Degree in English.
Mike loved his country and served honorably in the U.S. Army from February 1968 to October 1969. Mike had a long career in direct mail marketing from which he retired but his true passion was music. He was a singer as well as a guitar and harmonica player for the bands; The Jokers, T C & the Slicks and Mike & The Misfits from the 1950’s through 2015. His music career took him to New York City, Montreal, Toronto, New Orleans and Hollywood movie studios. While in Vietnam, Mike served with the Command Military Touring Show. The CMTS entertained troops in places where the USO could not go.
Mike was an active member of the American Legion Post 379 and served as Adjutant for two terms. He married his soul mate, Gail DeCarli on June 22, 1990. They shared 25 wonderful years together. Mike was a gentleman who loved people. He was a loving son, brother, husband, father, grandfather and friend. He lived his life, his way and embraced every moment
Mike was preceded in death by his parents, Charles and Ponnie. He is survived by his wife, Gail; sister and brother-in-law, Carolyn and Loy Lofton; daughters and step-son, Regina Curtis, Jennifer Garlington and Nicholas Mezin; grandchildren, Jordan, Conner, Olivia, Chloe and Ethan (Kash); mother-in-law, Norma DeCarli; sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Carol and David Lowery; nieces, nephews and countless friends.

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Biography:

09/26/2011
Still playing guitar in sleazy bars and nightclubs.  Scuba diving whenever I can in the FL Keys, Caribbean and Mexico after two hip replacements and open heart surgery.  Gotta keep moving,,,,70 is just around the corner.

09/11/2011

Bio

After high school, I was working at the local television station Channel 10. Got a call from Butch Blackwood saying that a band he had joined at the U of A needed a lead guitar player. (I've often wondered why he called ME!) After playing in the band in college and in many places around the country and in Canada for 5 1/2 years, I received two degrees and a teaching certification which I used only briefly at Fayetteville High School.

Moved to Texas and married my first wife in December of 1967. On February 7th of 1968 I was in Basic Training in Ft. Bliss, TX and in Cam Rahn Bay, Republic of Vietnam in Oct. 22 of that same year. Two days later - Chu Lai south of Da Nang. Lovely! Spent the first six months of my tour in "The Nam" enjoying the opulent views of the countryside and the never boring encounters with indigenous personnel that continually reminded us that we were interlopers in THEIR land.

One day we were brought in to a fire support base for a couple of days of "Stand Down", i.e., they take your weapons, launch overhead chopper protection and let you drink and relax.
As luck would have it, a chopper landed and some guys in civilian clothes started pulling off some guitars, amps, drums, etc. I immediately asked if I could sit in and through some lack of judgement, I was allowed to play with them for a couple of hours. Well, the leader of the band advised that they were not part of the USO, but were part of a military group called Command Military Touring Shows. To cut to the chase, I advised my Commanding Officer that he would get a write-up in his personal record if one of his men was accepted in CMTS. I went to Saigon the next day...was accepted and toured all over Vietnam entertaining the troops mostly in places where the USO, Korean and Australian shows couldn't go because of the close-in threat possibilities. We even did some shows on the Aircraft Carriers: USS Enterprise, Kittyhawk and Ticonderoga as well as all of the hospital ships in the South China Sea.

Returned back to the states on 23 Oct. 1969. Got started on raising a family and trying to make a living, but, never...never stopped playing music whenever and wherever I could. That remains to this day except I am 22 years into my second marriage and have been retired for the last three years.

I won't begin to go into the surgeries. Suffice it to say that I'm glad that they (medical folks)can do what they can do.

Hobbies: Guitar playing, cooking, scuba diving and reading...(Rumors of heavy drinking have been maliciously perpetuated by Butch Blackwood).

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