Dipper on the Corner

Dipper Garrison

Tells His Story

By Jan Todd

Perhaps you have seen him on the street corner in Boone near Wendy’s intersection. He’s the big man holding a big sign with a big message. Yep, that’s Floyd Garrison, better known to most simply as “Dipper.”

Come rain, sleet, snow or shine, for about an hour every Saturday — for the last 25 years — Garrison has claimed his spot on the corner with a simple, yet profound goal: To tell as many people as he can about being a bondservant of Jesus Christ, his

Lord and Savior.

Photo by Tara Diamond

The “Book of Dip”... Autobiography of Floyd “Dipper” Garrison Shows How God Can Change A Man, A Marriage and More

Some people have called him crazy. Some have just stared at him in amazement and wonder. Some have brushed him off, thinking little or nothing about him as they passed through town. But, some have had life-changing experiences because he, one man, takes a stand for what he believes.

One of those people, Garrision said, he will never forget. “This lady came up to me in tears, telling me that she had been contemplating suicide as she drove by McDonalds, and then she saw me there at the corner turn around with that sign that said ‘Jesus Loves You.’”

And, the strange thing about it all is — Garrison knew just exactly where that woman was coming from, he said. As the saying goes, he’s been there — and (almost) done that. .

“The Book of Dip” Tells The Story By Sherrie Norris

Garrison has lived an interesting life, to say the least, and one that has been, up until 2015, documented in “The Book of Dip: How God Can Change a Man, a Marriage, and More.”

The autobiography, a simple little paperback, contains a powerful, riveting life story in its 138 short pages. For the price of $10.95, plus shipping, and a quick delivery from Amazon, one might find him or herself glued to their latest

A ride on his cycle before a horrific head-on collision that nearly claimed the life of Dipper Garrison .

Following a tumultuous college experience, Floyd “Dipper” Garrison graduated from Appalachian State Teachers College in Boone.

The happy couple on their wedding day with family members, including Dipper’s brother, Raymon, far right.

purchase, way into the wee hours. (Yes, it has happened to several just like that — this writer included!) “I tell everyone who gets that book that it comes with a money-back guarantee,” Garrison said. “But, no one has asked for their money back, so far.”

Garrison prepares us in his introduction, but few can comprehend what he meant when he wrote it: “Oh! what a life it’s been. Hold on tight, and let me tell you a story.”

He said later that it’s something that only God could write. “I couldn’t have done it on my own.”

Garrison is self-described as a man who has been up, down and everywhere in between. From day one, his existence has been one of note, he said — near-death experiences, a mother’s tragic death;

a promising basketball career dashed by a devastating motorcycle accident, empires built and fortunes made, a rocky marriage repaired miraculously by faith and commitment. It’s quite the story, and as has been said about it: “Fiction should be so rich.”

In “The Book of Dip” you might just be inspired, enriched, and amazed, as you discover how God can truly change lives and circumstances.

In writing the book’s foreword, Franklin Graham, President and CED of Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, said, “If you want to read a one-of-akind story, ‘The Book of Dip’ is a good pick.

“Not many New Jersey boys could transplant to Boone, NC and make a mark like Dipper did many years ago,” Graham penned. “His love for the High Country is evidenced in his personal account, but more than that is his love for people from all walks of life. He is a man who seeks opportunity for the Gospel, and barrels through every open door.”

Graham continued, “His journey has been full of trials and triumphs, spattered with motorcycle and car wrecks, injuries and near-death experiences. Through it all, he has lived to tell how a broken life can be stitched together by the miraculous and intervening hand of the miracle-working God of Heaven.”

Whether negotiating a business deal or building personal friendships, Dipper is driven to testify about what the Lord Jesus will do for anyone who will repent and receive Christ as personal Savior, Graham continued. “While Dipper is nicknamed for his incredible ability to ‘dip’ a basketball into the net, Floyd Garrison’s real story is that he dipped his heart into the saving blood of Jesus Christ. His outspoken testimony for what God has done with a life that started out difficult will tenderize hardened hearts and lead them to the One who is “clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called the Word of God, (Revelation 19:13.) Every life matters to him.”

About Graham, Garrison said, “I am so blessed to be able to call him my friend. He’s been there for me. Anytime someone asks what they can do for me, I tell them to make a donation to Samaritan’s Purse. That’s where it can do the most good.”

Former App State Mountaineer’s head coach Jerry Moore had this to say about Garrison and his book: “What an amazing journey of how God moves in our lives! Here, Dipper pulls back the curtains of his life to share the good, the bad and his uncertainty. For over 25 years, Dipper Garrison has stood his ground around Boone as a follower of Christ. Dipper and Charlotte Garrison in recent years.

Dipper has spent many a Saturday at the Wendy’s intersection that has also gone through many changes over the years. Probably the busiest intersection in the High Country, that adds up to a lot cars that have passed by the man on the corner with the “Jesus Loves You” sign.

He shares the disappointments of his young life as an athlete, and moves into the successful ventures of his life and marriage — a love story in itself! Foremost, he shares the boldness of his Christian, spiritual walk.”

Yes, it is all true of Garrison, as most who know him will agree.

So, what else is it about this man behind the book that captivates our interests and curiosities, you might ask?

Well, to begin with, there’s nothing miniscule about the story of Dipper Garrison. How could there be? He currently stands about 6’6,” weighs 200 pounds and wears a size 18 shoe – with a heart as big as the sky and a faith as deep as the ocean. (He once weighed 230 and stood at 6’11”).

It is Garrison’s hope that people will read his story — and he feels pretty certain that if a reader doesn’t believe in God, and/or that God performs mir

Photo by Tara Diamond

acles, that notion will soon change after reading the book.

“He (God) is the only reason I’m alive to write this book,” Garrison wrote in his introduction, referring to the scripture in Jeremiah 29:11, which says. “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord; plans for you welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

Garrison said his story is recounted to the best of his ability — “And as close to the facts as I can remember – for things that happened over 70 years ago!”

He added that it is certainly not fiction, but the true account of what can happen because of the prayers of a loving, Godly mother, and others who intervened throughout his young life so that he could have abundant life, something for which he is “eternally grateful,” he emphasized.

Garrison’s prayer is that his story will affect many people and show how God clearly moves in a person’s life.

At the same time, he added, “If anything in this book sounds like I am boasting or bragging, I pray that you will understand that my story is all about the Lord and what he did. It’s not about my accomplishments. I’m like Paul Anderson, (the strongest and most humble man in the world) unable to pick up a penny without God’s help. I love his story. And you need to remember these words of wisdom: ‘Coincidence is spelled G-O-D.’”

Writing his book, Garrison said, had been on his bucket list for several years, but more than that, he wrote it in response to a promise he made to himself and to God. “I tried to write it for about five years,’ he said. “But, as usual, I hadn’t been able to slow down long enough to do it, despite it being a really big part of my life.”

He started writing on January 1, 2015 with the help of his son, Aaron. At that time, he said, he had just recently gotten caught up on his mail —after being two years behind! “It seems I’ve been going full-throttle, non-stop, my whole life.” Truth, Stranger than Fiction

The life of Floyd Garrision began on November 24, 1944 in Bridgeton, NJ when he was born the son of an Army sergeant who was oversees during the war. “I didn’t see him for the first part of my life. That’s probably why I was a mama’s boy until I was 11.”

He remembers his mother (who grew up on a farm) as a tall “tomboy” who was pretty and funny, loved music, could shoot a gun like Annie Oakley, played sports, was a great cook, loved God, her family and animals.

His dad, he recalled, was a good man, a hard worker who kept his word and would never lie, steal or cheat. But unlike his wife, Garrison recalled, “He never knew the Lord and probably didn’t know how to be a father. He spent a lot of time going to the racetrack, the American Legion, playing poker and loving his wife.”

He does have good memories of his paternal grandparents, a unique couple, and spending time on their farm. No matter the weather, Dipper Garrison shares his powerful message to those passing through Boone.

quarter for a drink of tea!”

Soon afterward, he turned 11 and along came his little brother, Raymon. “I tell people to this day, that even though we were born 10 years apart, we are twins.” The two brothers have enjoyed a very close and loving relationship through the years, which endures today.

Garrision’s world crashed early in life with the unexpected death of his mother. She had been hospitalized for five months — and he never had the chance to say good-bye. It was much later that he learned about the cancer that claimed her, which caused her terrible pain in the end. When he saw her at the funeral, he recalled, it was one of the worst and hardest days of his life.

Her death impacted the rest of his life in more ways than one. His father basically shut down, had to sell their home, moved the boys into a trailer, hired a caretaker who did her best to provide them with a safe homelike atmosphere.

His dad finally “came back to life,” Garrison said. Eventually, he remarried a nice lady named Eleanor, a “Godsend,” he described.

From there, life took interesting turns for Garrison, one right after another, and some in unbelievable succession.

Sports became his outlet – and especially basketball. He had no trouble “dunking” the ball, and in his final year of high school, he was already 6’7” and wore a size 18 shoe.

Schools were looking at him and he was offered scholarships – even one in North Carolina, but he chose to stay closer to home, for the time being.

But what should’ve been a career pathway ended in not his first near-death experience, but certainly one that changed everything.

“When I saw the movie Ma and Pa Kettle, I thought it was about them. . .”

He doesn’t have much else to say about his childhood. He went to school and worked — “The one consistent thing in my life was work.”

At age 5, he made five cents an hour picking berries from his neighbor’s strawberry patch. At age 6, he was selling strawberries from his own stand, started working in the fields of other farmers and sold newspapers. “I liked making money,” he said.

He worked for a “hard-nosed” farmer when he was about 10, “a Christian,” he described,” but a tough man to work for.”

“The one good thing that came from that job was going to a Billy Graham crusade with him and his family at the end of the summer in 1956,” Garrison recalled. “I had gone to church with my mom, but I don’t remember hearing the gospel message until that night in Philly. It was, I believe, like God planted a seed in me then. I’ll never forget seeing all those people going forward. And, I’ll always been grateful to that farmer, even if he was a hard man who charged me a Learning about Boone, Living In “The Hole”

Ironically, it was a football coach who eventually told Garrison about Boone, North Carolina, and encouraged him to apply at Appalachian State Teacher’s College.

And so it was, Garrison arrived in “a sleepy little mountain town,” but before he started to school in Boone, he met the woman he would marry — back in Jersey. It wasn’t a fairy tale love story by any means, to begin with, anyway.

Garrison’s life continued to take many twists and turns, literally and figuratively, before he and yes, his wife, Charlotte, actually ended up in Boone to live as a couple.

Before they were married, Garrison was homeless during his first winter in Boone as a college student, lived in a “hole” at the stadium, was frozen so badly at one time that he couldn’t walk, but crawled to the gym for a warm shower, and survived from food given out by a local church. Nearing a complete breakdown, he was amazingly able to finish his semester and pass his exams. But it was all taking a toll on him. Physically and mentally drained, he believed he would die.

But somehow, as God intervened, over and over, he surPhoto by Tara Diamond

Photo by Tara Diamond

Dipper and Charlotte Garrison moved to Boone together after they were married, where Charlotte found a job waiting tables at the Peddler Steakhouse and Dipper filled in as a dishwasher. From those humble beginnings, Dipper became a franchisee over some of the Peddler Steakhouses across the south, including the Boone location with Murray Broome.

vived, returned to New Jersey on a bus and tried to find Charlotte — who wanted nothing to do with him. His book explains all the reasons why.

He did recover, as did their relationship. And the rest is history.

Space does not permit us to tell the rest of his story — nor should we. It is documented well in his book, with the help of his son …. and it is one you don’t want to miss.

His unbelievable climb to the top, the plunges to the bottom, and back again, his outreach to — and compassion for — the homeless, his business ventures, both good and bad, and so much more, makes it all captivating and almost surreal. It’s all included in his book and one you need to have on your shelf.

Only through the pages will you begin to understand a little more about this tall, lanky man who stands at the corner near Wendy’s on Saturdays, from noon ‘til 1 p.m., sometimes his moustache and beard freezing into ice. Only then will you be able to comprehend the never-ending supply of love the heavenly Father has for his children, and how one man refuses to forget.

Only then will you understand how God can change a man, a marriage – and so much more. And, only then will you get to know most everything you may have wondered about Floyd “Dipper” Garrison. have continued, but through it all, God’s hand has remained upon this gentle giant.

His story would not be complete if we did not share a few more monumental – and yes, life-changing events that have transpired in the last five years.

He suffered a stroke in 2015, but again, divine intervention prevailed.

“I was driving down State Farm Road in Boone when something just didn’t feel right. My vision was a little blurry and I knew something was wrong. I’m never sick, the last time I had a cold was 25 years ago, but I just didn’t feel right. As I came to Dr. Hal Frazier’s parking lot, I turned in as he was coming out to get into his vehicle. I told him what was going on, and he offered to check me out. It didn’t take long before he said, “We’re going to the hospital.’ He took me in and they worked with me for two hours. He told me I was about to blow up – my blood pressure was 280/180. If I had gone on home — like I was planning on — I wouldn’t have made it. The Lord drew me into Hal’s parking lot.”

Garrison paused to say that Frazier had been a special man in his life for quite a while, and as a compassionate physician, had helped him many times with some of his tenants at the motel, and had even paid the hospital bill for one of the men.

“That’s just the kinda guy he was,” Garrison reflected. “He checked on me a couple days after my stroke and made me promise to take better care of myself, to get rid of some of my stress. I made that promise and stuck to it, but the one problem was — he, Hal, didn’t take care of his stress and

died a couple years later. He was dealing with life and death on a daily basis, doing what he could to help others. It just broke my heart when he died.”

Next came the near-fatal fall that his brother, Raymon, experienced from a rooftop. “It was a miracle that he didn’t break his neck and become paralyzed,” Garrison said. “He was broken up pretty bad and even though he’s healed up as well as he could, he’s still dealing with it.”

More recently, the death in 2019 of their son, Aaron, is something from which Dipper and Charlotte will never fully recover.

“That was just heartbreaking to both of us, He was such a blessing, a great encourager — and so good.”

In Arizona at the time of his death, Aaron had sought medical attention, but his diagnosis was not fully realized until his autopsy, months later.

“He died from tuberculosis. We didn’t have a clue.”

Aaron is still missed terribly and had a great impact on those around him, his father recalled.

“Even three months after he died, the lady who delivers our mail came to the door and told us how she missed his mail. He always stamped the words ‘You are loved,’ all over money or mail. And, when he sent us mail, it was always addressed to ‘My beloved parents,’ or ‘Mother’ or ‘Father,’ never with just our names.”

The Garrisons eventually received a note, written on an old piece of paper that said, “Read me.” The message was simple: “If you are reading this, it means that I am either dead or severely injured, but that’s OK. I have accepted whatever happens and I chose to have a joyful spirit. You don’t have to be sad for me. How cool! All is well and all will be well.’

“That,” Garrison said, “was overwhelming. We miss him terribly.”

Up to that point, he added, when dealing with others experiencing hard times in life, he could usually identify with them — except for those who had lost a child.

“But, I can now. It’s a very painful thing,” he described. “It’s He’s been ridiculed on many occasions for his public stand on the street corners of Boone, but Dipper Garrison also knows that he’s helped change many lives. Dipper Garrison has handed out countless tracts through the years to young and old alike during his Saturday intersection ministry.

There’s only one way to heaven, and it is Dipper Garrison’s hope and prayer that many will follow his lead.

FAITH MAGAZINE - Spring 2020 35 upside down – no parent should ever have to bury their child.”

On the positive side — where he likes to stay — Garrison said since his stroke, he has really slowed his pace. “I finally got caught up on my mail,” he said with a chuckle. “And I get to spend more time with my lovely wife. Charlotte never got to see me much for about 30 years , and now we have a little time together. Of course, she stays busy, too, but we’re trying to enjoy life.”

He still works out six days a week, continues to oversee some property, and is still reaching out to those down on their luck — whether it’s the fellow who fell behind on his rent for five years, or another one with a wife and three small children who have little to call their own.

And, he’s happy for another man, he said, who he rescued from an abandoned motel that was being readied for demolition.

“I thought there might still be some Gideon Bibles laying around that could be used, so I stopped by that place, and instead, found a guy living there. I took him out of there and found him a safe place to live. “

That was about 10 years ago; Garrison received a call from the man recently, telling him that his father had died and left him $1 million. “They are waiting to settle the estate. He’s 61 now and told me he was grateful that it didn’t happen earlier. If he had been given that money years ago, he would have blown it, but now he’s stable and going to buy a house with some of the money.”

Garrison is not building anything new these days, he said, unlike the years he managed his two motels, managed another 36 units and built a house every year.

“I look back on those 30 years, and if you could see it through my eyes — you would know it was impossible to do what I did. The guys who I sold a motel to and some of my houses have a six-man crew and a woman listing agent. And they told me recently they didn’t know how I ever did it. The only answer to that is our Gold Almighty empowered me. It was super natural.”

And, yes, he’s still standing on the corner of Hwy. 105 and 321 in Boone every Saturday.

“Many people have told me how their lives have been changed by my corner ministry,” Garrison said. “It’s a small price to pay to share the gospel. Think of the cross. Standing there is the least I can do. First of all, the Lord sent me to that corner. Secondly, I don’t want any person in Boone to say they didn’t know that God loves them. The Lord called me to be a seed planter.”

Garrison has been able to hand out “hundreds and hundreds” of tracts and to pray for countless people at that corner. “It’s such a gift to be able to share Jesus with so many people,” he said. “And, he added with his big smile, “Please tell people to be sure to honk their horn when they go by!” ◆ For the rest of the story, get your copy of Garrison’s book today. “The Book of Dip” is available at amazon.com On Saturdays, drive by and give Dipper at honk at the Wendy’s Intersection from noon to 1:00