04/10/2026
The next bio in our series honoring Taylor's women is of Margaret Garner who grew up in Taylor, but went on to do truly amazing things! I wish that I would have had the pleasure to have known this remarkable lady. Please read more about Mrs. Garner.
BIO - Margaret Nell Beavers Garner
1931-2018
Born on November 19, 1931, Margaret Nell Beavers Garner began life in humble surroundings in the segregated Jim Crow South. In the 1940 census, she was just a young girl living on East 6th Street in Taylor, the daughter of George Beavers, a barber shop porter, and Mary Elaine Beavers, a maid. From her hardworking parents, she learned resilience, dignity, and perseverance—values that shaped her entire life.
Margaret attended segregated schools in Taylor and graduated in 1949 from O. L. Price High School, a proud Price Panther. That same year, at the close of her senior year, she married Jerry L. Garner in a ceremony officiated by our Allen Chapel's Reverend G. H. Walker Sr. Their early married life began in Taylor on Burkett Street, and together they welcomed their daughter, Mary Jenee. Though her husband Jerry later passed away in 1965 while they were living in Odessa, Margaret remained devoted to her daughter, as well as her extended family of grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and loved ones who remained central to her life.
From these beginnings, Margaret built an extraordinary career. She earned her nursing degree from Odessa College, where she studied during a time when higher education in Texas was still largely segregated in practice and overwhelmingly white in enrollment. For a Black woman in the 1950s, entering and succeeding in a nursing program required exceptional determination and resilience. She began her nursing career in 1959 and devoted more than five decades to caring for others.
In 1967, Margaret broke barriers as the first African American nurse in the Heart Unit at Houston Methodist Hospital, working under the legendary Dr. Michael DeBakey. Her career reflected not only professional excellence, but also quiet trailblazing that opened doors for others who would follow.
Margaret also dedicated herself to community service and civil rights work, participating in Operation Breadbasket—a movement that used organized buying power and negotiation to push businesses toward fair hiring and economic opportunities for Black communities. She later joined the NAACP and remained active in civic life and politics throughout her years.
Away from work, she found joy in tennis, deep fellowship in her friendships, and lifelong strength in her United Methodist faith—rooted in her early connection to Allen Chapel in Taylor.
Margaret passed away peacefully on January 11, 2018 in Sugar Land, Texas. From a small home on East 6th Street to a pioneering nursing career and a legacy of service, her life stands as a powerful example of perseverance, family devotion, and a life richly and faithfully lived.
