Mary Lou Garton

Mary Lou (Sater) Garton, a pioneer in deaf education and an Olathe community leader, passed away July 26, 2009, at the Olathe Good Samaritan Center in Olathe, Kansas, surrounded by her loving family. She was a beloved wife, mother, grandmother, and friend.
She passed peacefully into the arms of her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, after an eight-year battle with cancer.
Born Aug. 4, 1931, into a farm family in Miller, Mo., Mary Lou attended elementary school in a one-room country school, a perhaps unlikely beginning for the well-known educator she would later become. She graduated from Miller High School in 1949. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in education in 1972 and a Master of Science in special education in 1982, both from the University of Kansas.
Johnson County Community College selected Mary Lou in 1972 to start its fledgling program for the hearing impaired. She collaborated with the college on the project for many years, setting up a referral service for interpreters through JCCC's pilot deaf interpreter training program. In 1974, she accepted a job as total communication coordinator at the Kansas School for the Deaf, incorporating sign language into the curriculum during a time when the prevailing educational philosophy was based on oral communication rather than sign. She taught sign to fellow teachers and to families of deaf children, traveling the state to offer classes. She was among Olathe's first sign language interpreters and helped establish a tradition in Olathe of interpreting assistance for deaf people in all types of community situations.
Mary Lou retired from KSD in 1990 and went to work in the family business, Tandem Truck Service, Inc., with her husband, Bill, and her son, Jim.
Well known around the community, Mary Lou served on the Board of Directors of the Deaf Cultural Center and helped bring the building—a meeting place and museum—to fruition. A member of the First Baptist Church of Olathe since 1957, she established deaf ministries at the church, working as a volunteer in the programs for 40 years, and served on the Diaconate, a body of church officers, for many years.
She was preceded in death by her father and mother, James R. and Bertha Sater, and two brothers, Donald Sater and Howard Sater. She is survived by her husband of 59 years, Billy G. Garton; a daughter and son-in-law, Jeanne Ewald and Edward; a son and daughter-in-law, Jim and Nancy Garton; and three grandchildren, Christine Garton and Matt, Ryan Garton and Amy, and Julia Loustalot. She is also survived by a sister-in-law, Mary Alice Sater of Miller, Mo.; a sister-in-law, Jeanette Sater of Mt. Vernon, Mo.; and four nieces and nephews.
She will be sorely missed by her family and a host of friends.
Memorial contributions can be made to the Deaf Ministries at the First Baptist Church of Olathe, 2024 E. 151st St., Olathe, Kansas 66062 and/or to the Deaf Cultural Center, 455 E. Park, Olathe, Kan. 66061.