Darlene Garand, 1938-2012: Teacher acted in, co-founded theater group

Darlene Garand, a special education teacher whose outlook won over students and who was a founder of the Oregon Community Theatre who brought a comic flair to musicals and a believable intensity to dramatic roles, died Thursday in Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center.

She was 73.

The cause of death probably was a complication of diabetes, her husband, Richard, said. She retired from the Toledo Public Schools because of disability in the early 1990s.

She liked to travel, and for more than a decade ran Custom Tours and Travel. She booked trips to Las Vegas and Caribbean cruises, but also arranged group excursions and bus tours.

For much of her career, she taught students with severe behavior problems, first at Starr Elementary and Fassett Middle schools in the Oregon district and then at Birmingham and East Side Central elementary schools in Toledo.

"She said she thought the only thing those students were missing was love," her husband said. "They weren't really bad kids at all."

The student deemed a lost cause became her cause.

"She never met a child she didn't have full faith in their ability," her son Fred said. "Even when everybody else thought they were a waste of time, she did everything she could to make sure they would succeed.

"[She had] an ungodly amount of patience. If the person gave up, she wouldn't give up. She was such a positive force," her son said.

"You would eventually believe in yourself, and she was able to instill self-confidence in anyone."

Students were with her because they had a "severe behavioral handicap," but she didn't find that designation accurate much of the time.

"The kids were so much better than you would expect," her husband said, "and most of them were bright. That was the thing."

Early in her career, she taught at Wynn Elementary School in Oregon. She also taught physical education at Genoa Area High School.

She was a 1964 graduate of the University of Toledo.

She timed her studies so that she could receive her bachelor's degree when her husband received his law degree.

Mrs. Garand and her husband were no strangers to performing when they and others banded together and formed what became the Oregon Community Theatre.

As half of Garand Garoup, the couple and Mr. Garand's brother and sister-in-law, John and Sharon Garand, performed comic and musical bits at Fassett school and for church and club functions.

The couple also sang in the Velvetone Choraliers.

The couple successfully petitioned Oregon's city recreation board for start-up funding.

The troupe's premiere offering in May and June, 1987, was Meredith Willson's The Music Man -- the Garands played Mayor and Eulalie Shinn -- and 24 seasons have followed. She acted, sang, directed, and produced. She remained on the board.

Her favorite role came in Season 5 as Sister Mary Regina in Nunsense, which she reprised for Nunsense II in Season 7.

Dramas, though, fit her philosophy of theater and of life, her husband said: "That you could convey things by acting that you couldn't convey by other things," he said.

"She was very believable in dramatic roles. You could tell a very serious thing was going on. She was intense," he said.

She was born Nov. 27, 1938, in northeast Ohio's Warren to Winifred and Russell Edwards. She was a child when the family moved to the former Oregon Township. She was a 1956 graduate of Clay High School.

She and her husband were foster parents to two girls, and Dorothy Caylor-Griffiths and Judy Henry are still part of the family. The couple adopted their sons and daughter.

"I guess we got lucky," son Fred said.

Surviving are her husband, Richard, whom she married Aug. 13, 1960; sons, Rick and Fred Garand; daughter, Joy Nichols; eight grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be from 2-8 p.m. Sunday and from 2-4 p.m. and 6-9 p.m. Monday in the Freck Funeral Chapel, Oregon. Services will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday in St. Ignatius Church, Oregon, where she was a member.

The family suggests tributes to the church or the Oregon Community Theatre.

Contact Mark Zaborney at: mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.