As a child, she moved with her family to Kindersley, Saskatchewan, when her father was assigned as the pastor of a small town on the Canadian prairie.
"[1] Garman graduated from the University of Saskatchewan in 1966 and played for two years on the Canadian women's national softball team.
[3] From 1972 to 1979, Garman led the Golden West Rustlers to a record of 211 wins and 40 losses,[2][4] and won four consecutive national junior college championships from 1975 to 1978.
Garman later recalled that the hardest part about the move was "leaving the beautiful facilities we had built at Golden West and coming over here to start with absolutely nothing.
"[3] She noted that, in the first season at Fullerton, the right fielder had to learn how to play the sidewalk in front of her, the equipment was stored in a men's room, and "our electrical source for a pitching machine was an extension cord thrown out the window of the carpentry shop.
[6] She was only 55 years old at the time of her retirement and told the Orange County Register that the breast cancer death of her close friend Vicky Larson, a former coach and girls athletic director at Loara High School, was a major factor in her decision.
[8][9] With 1,1249 wins in 28 years (913 at the Division I level), Garman was the winningest coach in college softball history at the time of her retirement.