Mariette Elizabeth "Ettie" Rheiner Garner was born in Sabinal, Texas in 1869, to John Peter Rheiner, a Swiss immigrant who became a Texas rancher, and his first wife, the former Mary Elizabeth Watson.[2][3]
Runs for Uvalde County Judge, 1893
In 1893, although women in Texas could not vote at the time, Mariette Rheiner ran for Uvalde County judge. She was defeated by the incumbent, John Nance Garner. Two years later, on November 25, 1895, she married Garner in Sabinal, Texas. They had one child, a son, Tully Charles Garner (1896–1968). In an interview in 1940, she denied running against Garner.[2]
Washington, DC years
During her husband's tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives, from 1903 to 1933, Ettie Garner served as his private secretary.,[2] prior to her role as second lady of the United States.
She suffered from Parkinson's disease from 1942 to 1948, slipped into a two-day coma and died in Uvalde, Texas, on August 17, 1948, a month after her 79th birthday.[4][2]
