As longtime music educator and choral director Joyce Garrett walked in the cavernous sanctuary at National Church of God in Fort Washington, Maryland on Aug. 2, she saw hundreds of people in the pews, as well as singers and an orchestra filling the stage-– and they were all present to honor her work and legacy.
During her retirement celebration last Saturday, Garrett passed endless people representing more than 50 years of her career at the now closed Langley Junior High School and Eastern High School in Northeast, D.C., the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, and Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia.
“Some people are larger than life,” the Rev. Howard John Wesley, senior pastor of Alfred Street, told The Informer during the celebration. “For 46 years Joyce Garrett has led musical excellence and anything that Alfred Street is today has Joyce Garrett’s fingerprint on it. We are because of her.”
Having known the local music legend before serving as another choir director at Alfred Street, Theron Johnson touted Garrett’s approach to her work and leadership.
“I worked with her at Eastern,” Johnson said. “She is so open, so loving and brilliant in what she does.”
Garrett’s Legacy of ‘Excellence Without Excuses‘
A native of Kinston, North Carolina, Garrett attended college in her home state, at Bennett College in Greensboro.
During her retirement ceremony, program administrators from Bennett honored Garrett’s work, having represented her alma mater with pride throughout her career.
She later earned a master’s in music from Catholic University in Washington, D.C.
The longtime educator began her teaching career in 1966 at Langley Jr. High School.
From her first teaching assignment after moving to the District, to today Garrett has followed her famous saying: “Excellence without excuses.”
After five years at Langley, Garrett was assigned to Eastern High School. During her years at Eastern, her groups traveled abroad and won many awards, including earning second place at the International Youth and Music Festival in 1988 in Vienna, Austria, and performing in Normandy, France for the 50th Anniversary of D-Day in 1994.
Garrett began directing the United States Naval Academy Gospel Choir in 1990, a role she held in addition to her work with Eastern until 2006.
She also founded the Washington Youth Choir in 2005.
Beyond her passion for music education, Garrett has been dedicated to Alfred Street since 1980.
“I served as a choir director at Alfred Street Baptist Church beginning in 1980 and became director of music and worship arts after 2005,” she told The Informer.
The longtime music minister is also a recipient of the Roland Carter “Living Legend Church Music Award,” which is presented at the Hampton University Centennial Ministers’ Conference.
Further, Garrett’s musical groups have appeared on numerous media platforms including “CBS News Sunday Morning” and NBC’s “The Today Show.”
In 2023 Garrett was inducted into the Eastern High School Hall of Fame as part of the school’s Centennial Celebration.
“It is quite an honor,” said Garrett, who was one out of 12 inductees, during the 100th anniversary event.
While Garrett has had a lot of success over the past five decades, it has not come without a great deal of hard work.
“Instead of talking about my life, the drama ministry acted out several skits about my life and what I wanted to be when I grew up,” Garrett told The Informer after the celebration.
People laughed as members of Alfred Street’s drama ministry reenacted some of Garrett’s rehearsals, highlighting her dedication to the craft and underscoring her motto of excellence in all her instructions and expectations.
“At the program I didn’t know if I was being roasted or toasted,” she continued.
From stopping a rehearsal because someone was fixing their hair, to tossing a towel when someone might be showing too much cleavage, Garrett’s rehearsals were legendary for being tough.
“Joyce Garrett and I have worked together for more than 40 years,” said Thomas Dixon Tyler, minister of music at Shiloh Baptist Church in Northwest, D.C. “Music excellence goes beyond teaching songs and notes. Every detail is part of the total presentation and she set the standard.”
Garrett: A Wife, Mother, Grandmother, Musical Icon
While Garrett has spent decades inspiring others through music and education, her best friend and husband of more than 50 years, James Garrett, has been right by her side.
The couple— who live in Fort Washington, raised a son and daughter, and also helped rear a cousin— walked into the retirement celebration together, beaming at the many people there to celebrate Garrett’s considerable contributions to the Washington metropolitan area’s music scene and beyond.
During the program, her son Rodney Garrett talked about how he remembers growing up with his mother receiving phone calls from famous celebrities, such as Aretha Franklin and Diana Ross.
While the event was to celebrate her stepping back from her busy life as a musical director, the large celebration, featuring dancers, special tributes and hundreds of singers dressed in gray served as a source of inspiration.
“I couldn’t believe the site before my eyes. There were 250 before my eyes dressed in purple and gray,” Garrett told The Informer. “In all my 46 years, I had never asked singers to wear gray outfits.”
As part of the ceremony, Garrett’s daughter Melanie Messer interviewed her mother about her hopes for the future. The newly minted retiree said she looked forward to spending time with her grandchild.
“I was ready to retire and now I am going to enjoy not having a schedule,” Garrett said, “but I will still continue to do music when called upon.”
Roderick Giles, director of Gospel Inspirers at Alfred Street, said he would not be where he is today without Garrett’s guidance and mentorship.
“Mrs. Garrett means everything to me,” Giles told The Informer. “She is the reason that I am as successful as I am today.”
