Garrett W. Walton, born November 14, 1948, and raised in Festus, Missouri, where he attended public schools through high school graduation in 1966. Colleges: B.S. in Agriculture, University of Missouri-Columbia, 1974; J.D., University of Missouri-Columbia, 1975 (authored several published law review articles and member of Law Review Board of Editors); L.L.M. (Taxation), New York University, 1977. In 1977, he moved to Pensacola, Florida, and commenced practicing law initially as an associate, and thereafter as a principal, with the law firm of Emmanuel, Sheppard & Condon. He was in the charter group of the Florida Bar Board Certified Tax Attorneys, and a member of numerous Bar Associations (American, Florida, Missouri and Escambia-Santa Rosa), and served on several American and Florida Bar Committees in the areas of taxation and estate planning. In 1994 he retired from the law practice and is currently self-employed primarily in the real estate development and investment areas. He has been active from the mid-1980's with various Pensacola/West Florida civic and charitable organizations, including the Escambia County Charter Commission, and service as an officer, director and/or trustee of the Girl Scout Council of Northwest Florida, the Sacred Heart Foundation, the Pensacola Homeporting Commission, the Pensacola Junior College Foundation, the United States Navy League, the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation, the United Way of Escambia County, the Pensacola Area Chamber of Commerce and the Homebuilders Association of West Florida; as a founding director/organizer of Northwest Florida Legal Services, Toy Soldiers, Sea Plane Foundation and the Armed Services Council for the Pensacola Area Chamber of Commerce; and is a member of the University of Missouri Law Society. In the fall of 2004, along with other community business leaders, he founded REBUILD Northwest Florida, in response to community needs arising by reason of the devastation caused by Hurricane Ivan. Walton served on REBUILD’S Board of Trustees, as a full-time volunteer co-executive director and as President for over two years, while it repaired homes of need based hurricane victims and established need based replacement housing and home hardening programs. He has received a number of recognitions from local governments and civic organizations for his community service. Walton served on then Governor Elect Charlie Crist's Transition Team and in 2007 was appointed by Governor Crist to chair the "Florida Windstorm Mitigation Study Commission."

Walton married Catherine Marie Young of Sarasota, Florida in 1969, who is a housewife, and they have two children: Sarah St. John Walton of Miami, Florida, and Christina Suzanne Walton of Asheville, North Carolina.