Obituaries

Patricia GarrabrantHomemaker, Club Member

Patricia Hebb Kennedy Garrabrant, 80, a member of Westmoreland Hills Garden Club and the Catholic Church of the Little Flower, both in Bethesda, died Aug. 5 at her home in Bethesda of complications from a stroke.

Mrs. Garrabrant was a homemaker for the past 53 years. Earlier in her life, she was a medical secretary at the old Mount Alto Veterans Administration Hospital and a secretary to Sen. John J. Sparkman (D-Ala.) before working for the State Department in Pakistan for two years. She quit her job when she married in 1955.

A native of St. Mary's, she graduated from Georgetown Visitation High School and Georgetown Visitation Junior College.

Her memberships included the National Society of Colonial Dames of America and the Monticello Association. Mrs. Garrabrant traced her ancestry to Thomas Jefferson through his daughter Maria.

Survivors include her husband, Samuel Robert Garrabrant of Bethesda; three children, Laura Wayles Garrabrant of Chestertown, Md., Robert Bayard Garrabrant of California, Md., and Peter Buckley Garrabrant of Spokane, Wash.; and two grandchildren.

-- Patricia Sullivan

Mark Leon GentState Department Logistician

Mark Leon Gent, 43, a State Department logistician, died Aug. 2 at VCU Medical Center in Richmond after a stroke. He lived in Fort Eustis, Va.

Mr. Gent was born in Alexandria, where he attended Mount Vernon High School. He went to work for the State Department in 1990, and in 2000 was sent to Vienna, Austria, for three years, then to Lisbon.

He returned to Virginia, based at Fort Eustis in 2006, and was expecting to go to Baghdad this fall.

He was a Harley-Davidson motorcycle enthusiast, and volunteered with Toys for Tots and the Red Cross.