Owen Walter Garrigan was born September 20, 1928 in the Bronx to Walter and Helen Garrigan. Helen died a few years later and Walter married Alice Furlong on Aug 22, 1936. Alice raised Owen and the Furlongs were very influential in Owen's life - on his confirmation in 1940 Owen took the name William and asked his uncle George Furlong to be his sponsor. At the time his uncle William was Rev. William Furlong, future head of the divinity school at Seton Hall. Owen Garrigan ultimately attended Seton Hall, attended the seminary at Darlington, was ordained in 1954 and became a professor of Biochemistry at Seton Hall University.

His stepmother Alice died in 1966 and his father married Dorothy Henning Garrigan in December 1974. This was Dorothy's first marriage. She was devoted to her stepson Rev. Owen Garrigan and he to her. In the short time that they knew each other they took many trips and spent a lot of time together. When Rev. Garrigan died in 1984 he was survived by both his father Walter and his stepmother Dorothy. Throughout her remaining years (Dorothy passed away in February 2008) Dorothy remained devoted to the memory of Rev. Owen Garrigan and to the Immaculate Conception Seminary at Seton Hall University. She created a scholarship in his name that is awarded to a chemistry student.

As evidenced by all the artifacts and ephemera that Dorothy still had when she died, she was very proud of her son, Reverend Owen Walter Garrigan.