Later Life and Legacy
Garner stepped down as Vice President in January 1941, ending a 46-year career in public life. He retired to his home in Uvalde for the last twenty-six years of his life, where he managed his extensive real estate holdings, spent time with his great-grandchildren, and fished. Throughout his retirement, he was consulted by active Democratic politicians and was especially close to Roosevelt's successor Harry S. Truman.
On the morning of Garner's 95th birthday on November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy called to wish the former Vice President a happy birthday, just hours before his fateful trip to Dallas.
Garner died on November 7, 1967, at the age of 98 years and 350 days, 15 days before his 99th birthday, making him the longest-living Vice President in United States history, a record which was previously held by Benjamin Harrison's Vice President, Levi P. Morton. He is interred in Uvalde Cemetery.
Garner and Schuyler Colfax, Vice President under Ulysses S. Grant, are the only two Vice Presidents to have been Speaker of the House of Representatives prior to becoming Vice President. As the Vice President is also the President of the Senate, Garner and Colfax are the only people to have served as the presiding officer of both Houses of Congress.
The popular Garner State Park, located 30 miles (48 km) north of Uvalde, bears his name, as does Garner Field just east of Uvalde. The women's dormitory at Southwest Texas Junior College in Uvalde bears Mrs. Garner's name.
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