John Eldridge Garland, 60, of Milton, a man of endless generosity, intense passion and a wit that lightened life’s most trying challenges, passed Feb. 21.
As vice president of M.S. Walker’s fine wine division, he lived by the words,”Life is too short for bad wine.” For John, who tasted the best wine of five continents over his career, life was also too short to complain, too short to worry, too short  not to travel, too short not to.forgive….too short not to. love….. A life cannot be too short  when every moment is lived in the true sense of the word lived with enthusiasm, compassion and grace.
John loved history, music, gardening, the Patriots; he loved Paris, tailored suits, Italian ties, and his two dogs, Penny and Roscoe.
Those who knew him will most remember the way he loved those closest to him, his family and his friends – with loyalty and fidelity and devotion. They will remember his love for his wife Clare, to whom he was blissfully married for 34 years; his three children, Matthew Owen, Ryan Eldridge, and John Harrison, to whom he devoted himself completely; his late father, Eldridge “Al” Garland and his mother, Sheila Garland of Florida, who raised him with the integrity he lived by; his sisters, Nancy Garland of North Carolina and Susan Garland of Florida, to whom he was the best older brother anyone could ask for; and many nieces, nephews, in-laws and friends to whom his door was always wide open.
John was born in Cambridge, England, and raised in Brookline, Mass.  After graduating from Brookline High School he attended the University of New Mexico before enlisting in the U.S. Air Force.  After completing his bachelor’s degree at the University of Massachusetts he began his career in the wine industry at M.S. Walker in Somerville, where he worked for 30 years.
No one would call him a man of few words, but he was the rare case of a loquacious man who preferred to lead with his actions. As anyone who ate or drank with him could attest, John Garland could talk the talk, but those who truly knew him will tell you how he walked the walk, deliberately and with style. If there is one lesson he would like to leave those of us still running in the human race it would undoubtedly be, “Don’t sweat the small stuff.” 

We promise we won’t. 

A funeral service will be held at First Parish in Milton, 535 Canton Ave., Thurs., Feb. 26,  at 11 a.m.  Friends may call Wednesday, Feb. 25, 4-8 p.m., at Dolan & Chapman Funeral Home, 5 Canton Ave., Milton Village. Interment will be in Milton Cemetery. Contributions in John’s memory may be sent to Dana Farber Cancer Institute, c/o Thoracic Oncology Dept, 44 Binney St., Boston, MA 02115, or to the Greater Boston Food Bank, 70 South Bay Avenue Boston, MA 02118-2700.  For further information please visit www.dolanchapman.com