Teral Garrett became interested in magic at the age of twelve and gave his first public performance one day in english class at Albany High School. In the 1930's he performed as "Teral The Mystic" with a variety group called the Rozelle Players and became a well-known act. He was also editor of three magazines, including Psycho-Gizmo, which was in print from 1951 to 1965, and for several years, he also operated a mail order magicians supply house out of Albany, filling orders from all over the world.
Teral broke his neck at an early age, which kept him from jobs that required any exertion of great physical energy. It also exempted him from serving in the armed forces during WWII. While he may have been unable to serve in the military, his son, James, was an Army Specialist Four with the 7th infantry division in Korea and with the 29th infantry in Vietnam, where he became what was believed to be the first Clinton County soldier to be awarded the Bronze Star Medal in the Vietnam war.
On Dec. 20, 1968, while his unit was sweeping through a suspected enemy command post, they came under deadly automatic weapons fire. Seeing the platoon leader had been wounded and the communications equipment destroyed, James left his vehicle and ran through enemy fire to another vehicle for the needed equipment, securing communications within his unit.
Both Teral and James died at a young age. Teral was 56 when he passed away on Nov. 7, 1970, after suffering a heart attack about a week earlier. James was 57 when he died on May 2, 2005. Among their survivors was their son, and brother, Pace Garrett.
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