Lew Garrison Coit Jr.

L. Garry Coit of Oxford, MD died on Friday, February 29, 2008 at Genesis Healthcare-The Pines, Easton. He was 81. Lew Garrison Coit, Jr., known to his friends as Garry, was born in Duluth, Minnesota on October 27, 1926 to Lew Garrison Coit, Sr. and Elizabeth Agnes Gray Coit. The family moved to the Washington, D.C. area in the early 1930’s where he attended public schools, with the exception of his final year of high school at the Landon School in Bethesda, MD. Garry completed his final high school semesters without a break so that he could complete a full semester at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before becoming old enough to join the U. S. Navy. After his discharge from the Navy, he returned to his Sigma Chi MIT friends, but he discovered he no longer was interested in MIT’s classes while the world was changing. He switched to the University of Maryland where he graduated with a degree in political science. He then sailed by freighter to Paris, France to spend a year studying at the Institute de Politique. For 26 years he worked for the CIA with overseas assignments in Guam, Paris and London. By this time his French language skills were near native. Retiring in 1978, he and his wife purchased a new sailboat, a Tayana 37, rented their house, and enjoyed a seven and one-half year odyssey at sea, traveling as far north as Ireland and Great Britain and as far east as Turkey, before returning to Maryland. Garry’s first marriage to Phyllis Baldwin ended in divorce. Mr. Coit is survived by his wife, the former Barbara Matzen; his daughter, Elizabeth Baldwin Coit of Laurel, MD; four sons, Zachary Garrison Coit of Charlottesville, VA, Seth W. Coit and his wife Patricia Moran of Reston, VA, Nathan Greene Coit and his wife Patricia Burris of Colorado Springs, CO, and Roger Baldwin Coit and his wife Katie McNerney of Salida, Colorado; eight grandchildren, Will and Grant Russell of Laurel, Sean and Matthew Coit of Reston, Elise and Russell Coit of Colorado Springs , and Ethan and Evan of Salida, Colorado; and two sisters, Ann Coit Sifneos of Belmont, Massachusetts and Mary Van Norman Coit of New York City. Friends may visit with the family on Monday, March 10, 2008 from 6 to 8 PM at Fellows, Helfenbein and Newnam Funeral Home, P.A., Easton. Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, March 11, 2008 at 1:00 PM at the St. James Episcopal Church in Lothian, MD. Burial will be at the St. James Church Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Building a Bridge, PO Box 7292,Charlotteville, VA 22906; a non-profit supporting adults with brain injury.