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I was walking through the extensive grounds of the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia (DSCP) in Northeast Philly when I first saw Mary Ann Garbowski. She jogged past me wearing running shorts and a U.S. Air Force T-shirt in August 2005. I had been discharged from the Air Force Reserve in 1966. One look at then-Maj. Garbowski and I was ready to re-enlist. Little did I know then that in the next six years, she would become one of our closest friends.
There is much more to Mary Ann than her considerably good looks (although I stand by my offer to re-enlist if the Air Force will take me). Mary Ann is Sarah Jessica Parker if Sarah belonged to Doctors Without Borders. Despite her surname, she was born in Puerto Rico and is its best argument to become our 51st state. Her father is a decorated veteran of both the Korean and Vietnam wars. He raised her, for all practical purposes, by himself in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Mr. Garbowski expected nothing short of excellence from his daughter. He refused to allow her to feel sorry for herself because she came from a broken home. He practically willed her to succeed and she has repaid his efforts handsomely.
She is a graduate of the University of Florida, a Gator to the core. At Florida, she combined academic excellence with being a “Gator Girl,” and still wears her blue and orange on game days. Mary Ann went on to obtain a masters in health administration at the University of North Florida, and in 1997, was commissioned as a Medical Service Corps Officer. From there her career as an Air Force officer took off.
Perhaps two of the most defining moments of her young life came on health-care missions, one in Ecuador outside of military life and the other as part of the USNS MERCY after a tsunami hit Jolo in the Philippine Islands where Mary Ann served as a health-care professional for the sick and injured. One of the most moving videos I have ever seen is of then-Maj. Garbowski being interviewed during the Jolo tragedy. Her voice chokes with emotion as she describes what it means to be part of a relief operation saving lives, and it is impossible to keep a dry eye.
Her various career stops from D.C.’s Bolling to Hawaii’s Hickam and then to Colorado’s Buckley Air Force Base finally brought her to DSCP where she quickly became part of our family. That’s where we glimpsed the Sarah Jessica Parker side of Mary Ann’s personality.
My wife, Fran, bonded with Mary Ann on their passion for shopping (particularly shoes). Thus was born the Black Friday tradition. Every year at precisely 5:30 a.m. while I slumber with dreams of Thanksgiving football dancing in my head, they are off in search of the perfect bargain. The two of them reappear around 8 at night, packages in hand, wanting to know where we are dining that evening.
Mary Ann knows as much about wine as any sommelier. We often dined at Le Virtu, 1927 E. Passyunk Ave., and we always let her pick the wine, after a short chat with Fred, the restaurant’s co-owner. Her dark eyes never flash more brightly than when eating a bowl of the restaurant’s scrippelle soup. There also were the marvelous trips to New York to see Liza Minnelli (Mary Ann actually met Liza outside a theater on one of her trips), great theater, and of course, shopping.
Handbags were another passion Mary Ann and Fran shared. One time they followed some street guy several blocks in a quest for bargain handbags with me in pursuit. They wound up disappearing, to my astonishment, into a rundown building where I chased them up two flights of stairs. Yes, they wound up with great handbags and wondered why I had wet my pants. Incidentally, Mary Ann also digs fine pens and gourmet coffee makers — she makes a divine latte.
Life in the military is difficult. Just as you are enjoying great friends and extended family, you are called to duty elsewhere. We managed to keep our adventures going on weekends when Mary Ann was reassigned to the Department of Homeland Security in D.C. on a FEMA fellowship in September 2007, and then Fort Detrick, Md. in August ’09. There were still the side trips to New York — once where we caught Linda Eder at Feinsteins.— and all those laughs at who knows what. Fran and I attended her promotion ceremony at Fort Detrick when she became a lieutenant colonel in front of an audience that included her beaming dad, friends and colleagues.
Lt. Col. Garbowski continues to pile up awards and honors for her dedicated service. She moved on at the end of this summer to Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara County, Calif. as squadron commander. She was named recipient of the ’11 American Academy of Medical Administrators’ YC Parris Young Federal Healthcare Executive Award. She is expected back for Black Friday when she and my wife will no doubt go off into the morning in search of the perfect bargain.
In the meantime, we miss her like hell. The scrippelle soup is waiting, my dear. Hurry back! SPR
Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.
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