Agnes Marie Kasten

Micah 6:8 – “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

Agnes “Marie” Garrison Kasten, 93, of Johnson City, died on April 29, 2022, at her home.

She was born in St. Joe, Arkansas, a daughter of Daniel Greene Garrison and Mildred Ann Machac Garrison. In addition to her parents, her beloved younger brother, Richard Garrison, preceded her in death.

She is preceded in death by her husband of 65 years, Dr. Frederick Heschel Kasten. Her eldest son, Frederick Lee and wife Tana live in Livingston, Montana. Other sons are Stephen David Israel Kasten of Kingsport, Tennessee; Donald Jacob Kasten of Johnson City, Tennessee, and Glenn Kasten and wife Dawn of San Mateo, California. She is also survived by a sister, Catherine May George of Dallas, Texas; a brother, Daniel Lewis Garrison of Lexington, Kentucky; six grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews.

A journalism graduate of the University of Houston, Mrs. Kasten worked as a writer and editor with various publications. She received a Master of Arts degree in English from the University of Texas in Austin and a Diploma in French from the Alliance Francaise in Paris. She also studied French, German, and Russian at Pasadena City College and California State University in Los Angeles.

Mrs. Kasten resided for long periods of time in East and West Germany, France, and the Soviet Union where her husband worked as a research scientist in medical areas. She visited many other countries in Eastern and Western Europe, in South America, and in the Near and Far East.

While employed as a serials librarian at LSU Medical Center in New Orleans, she completed a second Master’s degree in Library Science at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. She also had an appointment as Clinical Instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at LSUMC.

Mrs. Kasten was a member of the Steering Committee and the original Board of Directors of the National Depressive and Manic-Depressive Association, now the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance. She was active in the Alliance for the Mentally Ill, working on programs at local, state and national levels. Named Citizen of the Year by the Louisiana Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, Mrs. Kasten also received the DePaul Hospital Lancaster Mental Health Award. She organized and directed, along with her husband, the New Orleans Manic-Depressive Support Group for 12 years. This NDMDA branch, which won a national award in 1996 for being an outstanding chapter, continues to serve patients and families in Katrina-devastated Louisiana.

Mrs. Kasten has been interested in gardening since childhood and received J.C. Penney Golden Rule recognition for her many years of work with the New Orleans Horticultural Program for the Handicapped. She took horticulture courses at Delgado Junior College and was a volunteer at Longview Gardens; she was a Master Gardener volunteer with the University of Tennessee Extension Service and a Landscape Design Critic who gave illustrated talks to garden clubs and other groups in the Tri-Cities area of Tennessee. Her outstanding garden was visited by the Southern Appalachian Plant Society and other groups. She was generous with her flowers and plants and spent her last days gardening and looking after her great-grandchildren at her home in Johnson City.

Mrs. Kasten was active in Munsey Memorial United Memorial Church. Memorials may be directed to the Munsey Building Fund, P.O. Box 1336, Johnson City, TN 37605 or the National Alliance for Research in Schizophrenia and Depression, 60 Cutter Mill Road, Suite 404, Great Neck, New York 11021.