Erane Marie Garrett

99, Sonoma

Even at 99, Erane Marie Garrett was known for her energy.

Before the pandemic, Garrett enjoyed passing out popcorn with the staff at her Sonoma nursing home. She played bingo and looked forward to monthly hula exercise lessons and shows put on by her daughter. She still knew the words — some in Hawaiian — to the popular song “Little Grass Shack.”

“She learned them as a child on the radio,” said daughter Donna Keegan.

Garrett died Aug. 2 after a weeklong battle with COVID- 19, Keegan said. Garrett, who spent her entire life in the Bay area, was born and raised in San Francisco and worked as a secretary for years in Oakland. The mother of two also lived in Alameda for a while to be close to her younger daughter.

Garrett was originally going to be named Irene, but the priest who baptized her pronounced her name “Erane.” Her mother thought it sounded pretty, so it stuck, Keegan said.

After her husband left her alone to raise two young girls, Garrett got a job as a secretary in the personnel department at Moore Dry Dock, a ship repair company in West Oakland. She also worked as a secretary for a now- defunct paper company.

As a single mother, Garrett made sure her daughters attended private Catholic school, despite the cost. Each night she’d put curlers in their hair, and the two awoke to freshly polished shoes each morning for school.

After retirement, Garrett volunteered at her grandchildren’s school and for Meals on Wheels. She also worked as a saleswoman for Avon, selling beauty products.

When Garrett tested positive for COVID- 19 and had to be isolated, she tried sneaking out of her room at her nursing home, because she didn’t like being alone.

Before the pandemic, Keegan taught a hula exercise class once a month for the residents. Though in a wheelchair, Garrett always participated. Keegan would also take her mother to her own hula performances at the nearby Sonoma Valley Woman’s Club.

Garrett beamed with pride as she watched her daughter, Keegan, dance.

“That’s my daughter up there,” she’d say.

Garrett is survived by daughter Keegan, six grandchildren and 14 greatgrandchildren. She was preceded in death by her daughter Lynne Madigan.