Memorial Service Planned For 22-Year-Old Long Valley Resident

LONG VALLEY, NJ — Services are scheduled on Friday to remember Daniel “Dan” Christopher Garry, a longtime Long Valley resident who passed away at 22 on July 3.

He just graduated from Rutgers New Brunswick in May and recently became a Computer Scientist at Picatinny Arsenal.

A memorial mass is being hosted for him at Our Lady of the Mountain RC Church at 2 East Springtown Road in Long Valley at 1 p.m. on Friday, with attendees invited back to his family’s home for refreshments and more time to remember him.

Born in Morristown on Dec. 22, 1998, Garry - the son of Timothy and Catherine Garry and brother of Jeffrey and Julie Garry - was a 2017 West Morris Mendham High School graduate and became an Eagle Scout that same year with Boy Scout Troop 236.

Long Valley Patch celebrated Daniel Garry and two fellow scouts - Timothy Carpenter and Tyler Haas - by sharing Washington Township Police Department’s post after the three received their Eagle Awards on June 11, 2017.

New Jersey State Sen. Anthony Bucco, then a Republican Assemblyman for the 25th Legislative District, recognized Garry as one of 16 Eagle Scouts in his district that was honored that weekend in 2017.

Patch also covered the service projects Garry and his fellow Eagles did, with each of them having joined scouting as Tiger scouts when they were six-years-old and helping one other on the road to becoming Eagle Scouts. Garry made garden beds at Long Valley Presbyterian Church to benefit Long Valley’s Food Pantry, as his project.

“Dan found joy in lending a hand and helping others,” his obituary read.

In addition to scouting, he played baseball and lacrosse growing up.

After graduating from Rutgers Magna Cum Laude with degrees in Computer Science and Statistics, according to his obituary, he recently began his career at Picatinny’s Weapons and Software Engineering Center.

On Garry’s Facebook Page, he lists his time at Picatinny starting as a Software Engineer Intern in February 2019. On his LinkedIn profile, Garry described himself as a “motivated student with an interest in embedded and distributed systems, parallel computing and operating systems design.”

Some are sharing memories about him on the William J. Leber Funeral Home’s tribute page from his earliest years as a rosy-cheeked small boy, to the smiling young man that he grew into.

“Dan liked cars, exotic foods, and making people laugh,” was how he was summed up on his obituary.

“Please join me in sending our deepest thoughts and prayers to Long Valley's Garry family on the passing of Dan Garry this past week,” Washington Township Mayor Matt Murello wrote. “Rest In Peace young man.”

Read Garry’s obituary here.

Questions or comments about this story? Have a news tip? Contact me at jennifer.miller@patch.com.