Laurens Superintendent Garnto reminisces about times at old WLHS during retirement celebration

Clifford Garnto was recently honored with a retirement celebration at the Old West Laurens School. It was only fitting, he would later say, because that once was West Laurens High School, where he graduated and later returned to serve as principal.

At the end of 2025, Garnto is retiring after serving as the Laurens County superintendent for the last five years. 

“This is where it started for me,” he said looking around the former media center where his reception was held on Tuesday, Dec. 16. “This is where my love for mathematics started and this is where I met the love of my life here. I’ve been blessed with two children who both work in the system. The Savior has truly blessed me beyond measure.”

Garnto had thought about his retirement for a while and recalled the work ethic he learned from his mother and father. 

“My parents taught me how to work, and they set that example for me,” he said. “I rarely miss work. If I do miss work, someone else is sick.” 

Garnto remembered working and forming a friendship with Randy Gay. They began working in the irrigation business when they were 14.

“We were working in the hot sun,” Garnto said. “The experience gave us motivation to go to school.” 

Garnto called out Hugh Kight. 

“I’ll call him Mr. Kight today, but I began as a student calling him Coach Kight,” Garnto said. “He began influencing me when I was 10 and the mean ol’ Garnto brothers came in to wrestle.” 

He had many teachers who influenced him.

“They always made school worth attending,” Garnto said. “They always made you want to be there.” 

He gave a special thank you to Bill Rowe and George Knight, who gave him a job teaching. Rowe and Jerry Hatcher gave him the opportunity to move into administration.

“That got me into where I am here today,” Garnto said. “I did 15 years of administration at West Laurens High School. I did a lot of cutting my teeth on the Westside. I appreciate the Eastside and their acceptance of me as superintendent.”

He acknowledged growing up as the youngest of four brothers.

“It was their influence on me and making me tough,” Garnto said. “They instill a certain amount of toughness to you when they push you out in the deep end of a pool and won’t let you come back in until you start bobbing and they drag you back in. I appreciate them for what they have done.” 

He thanked the Laurens County Board of Education chairman Jarvis Wilcher, vice-chair man Tony Johnson, and members Kevin Malone, Kenny Payne and Kathy Sweat. He also acknowledged Kenny Stewart and the late James Brown who were on the board when he was named superintendent in 2020.

“I appreciate you all supporting me and giving me the opportunity,” Garnto said. “Thank you also to the staff at the board office who has made my job easy, all the way to my associates who are my right-hand guys. I couldn’t have asked for a better team at the board office. If a phone call got to me, it was very serious, but that’s because these guys were able to take care of it.” 

O.J. Hall, the next Laurens County Superintendent, talked about Garnto before praying over the food.

“I know this is a celebratory moment for him, but there have been quite a few of us who have been dreading this day since he announced it,” Hall said. “We thank him, and we are grateful for him.” 

Hall remembered when he coached basketball at West Laurens and they played Dublin. He had two cousins on the team who could not get along and fussed the entire game.

“Mr. Garnto and Mr. Kight came to me the next day and asked if they needed to discipline those boys or was I going to do it?” Hall recalled. “I told them I would take care of it. I never had a day’s trouble since doing what needed to be done and holding people accountable and even holding myself accountable.” 

Kight said Garnto is like a son to him.

“I taught him since he was in the fifth grade,” Kight said. “I have watched him grow. I never knew what God had in his plans (for Garnto). He started wrestling, and the next thing you know he is one of my high school wrestlers on our state championship team. He comes back from college and helps me as an assistant coach, and he eventually takes that over from me. It has been a blessing.” 

Wilcher said Garnto has meant a lot to the school district.

“He has moved us forward, and he has really been good with our finances, as well,” Wilcher said. “He has made sure we had the right things in place that can keep our students moving forward. This is a good celebration. We hate to see him go, but we are glad to see what will happen during the tenure of Dr. Hall.” 

Board member Payne said Garnto was very effective 

“I think he was very effective with all of us and the staff,” Payne said. “He was very good at getting our information out, along with the mission of the board of education. That was one major good thing that he did.” 

Toward the end of the retirement celebration, Gay announced one last surprise for Garnto. Down the hallway was a new smoker that was replica of one the LCBOE has had to cook food. Garnto has always liked it.

“The principals and staff went in together to buy this,” Gay said as Garnto looked over the smoker.

“This is the best gift you could give me,” he said. “I guess I owe them a faculty meal now.”