Judge Elizabeth Garry beat the odds this Election Day and her mother credits her late father — Hilltown farmer Harry Garry — in part for the win.

Judge Garry, a Democrat, won a State Supreme Court Justice post in the Sixth Judicial District, 10 counties in the state’s rural Southern Tier, where Republicans outnumber Democrats, two to one.
She was raised on a dairy farm in Berne where, as she said, in her candidate’s statement, "the soil is rocky an the people are tough, but caring."

She credits her success to the values of hard work and service to the community that her parents taught her.
Her late father, Harry Garry, was known as "The Singing Farmer." He performed locally and for years wrote a column for The Enterprise, called "Down on the Farm." He died two years ago at the age of 95.
Her mother, Dr. Margery Smith, a retired family physician, her daughter recalls was "renowned for actually making house calls for her rural patients, as well as being a pioneer in her field as a female physician."

Smith called the Enterprise news office, with excitement in her voice, to report on her daughter’s victory against all odds.
"She won by 17,000. The farmers came through for her. Most the farmers in those counties are Republicans. Harry Garry is still remembered in farm circles there," said Dr. Smith.

Harry Garry had been active in the Farm Bureau statewide.
Describing her daughter as "bubbly and outgoing," Smith recalled with a chuckle, "As a teenager, she was a handful"She came through alright."

After graduating from college, Smith said, her daughter cast about to find a field that fit her. She worked jobs that ranged from being a Christmas elf to working in securities and insurance.
Finally, she decided on law, and applied only to Albany Law School. "Mom, if I’m supposed to be a lawyer, I’ll get in," she told her mother.

She got in, and graduated at the top of her class.
Garry went on to clerk for State Supreme Court Justice Irad S. Ingraham, who crossed party lines to endorse her in the recent election, telling voters in the Sixth Judicial District that they were "sophisticated enough to look beyond political considerations and place primary emphasis on the legal abilities which she has."

She also garnered endorsements from her Congressman, Maurice Hinchey, Senator Hillary Clinton, and the Judicial Candidate Committee, which gave her its top rating — highly qualified.

Garry has 12 years of trial experience with the Joyce Law Firm in Sherburne, and has served six years as the town justice for New Berlin, in Chenango County, where she lives.
"She ran on her qualifications," said her proud mother, but it didn’t hurt that her father was a well-respected farmer who knew how to relate to people.
Dr. Smith reported a friend’s assessment of Elizabeth Garry on the campaign trail: "Man, you should watch that woman work a room. She could work it as well or better than Harry."