Joseph Perry Griffin, 1922-1996

GRIFFIN, BOSTICK, RATHBURN, HEMPHILL, RASMUSSEN

Posted By: Clay County IAGenWeb Coordinator (email)
Date: 4/5/2011 at 14:54:51

Joseph Griffin, 74, Spencer, died Sunday, June 23, 1996, at Spencer Municipal Hospital.

Memorial services will be held Friday, July 5, at 1:30 p.m. at Grace United Methodist Church, Spencer, with the Rev. Gordon Watson officiating.

A memorial fund has been established for either the Shriner's Transportation Fund or a memorial of the donor's choice. The family requests no flowers.

Warner Funeral Home of Spencer is in charge of arrangements.

Joseph Perry Griffin, the son of John and Ruth Bosstick Griffin, was born Jan. 1, 1922, in Paris, Ill. He received his early education there, graduating from Paris High School in 1940.

He served four years in the Army Air Force Intelligence Department during World War II.

On March 3, 1945, he married Virginia Rathburn in Sioux City. The couple lived in Sioux City, Spencer, and Okoboji before returning to Spencer in 1987.

For 51 years, he worked as an air conditioning and heating design engineer for Johnson Supply, Thermo Lux Supply, and Green Colonial Furnace Company.

He was a member of Grace United Methodist Church in Spencer where he served on numerous boards and committees.

Mr. Griffin was active in the Masons, having been a member of the following orders: Evening Shade-Lodge #312 AF & AM, Evening Shade Chapter No. 116 O.E.S., Past Patron of Rose Croix Chapter in Sioux City, Consistory, Abu Bekr Shrine, the Spencer Shrine Club and the Spencer Shrine ATV.

He served as past president and nine-year member of the Arnolds Park School Board, DeMolay Dad, Boy Scout committeeman, Sunday School teacher, church youth basketball coach, and chairman of the Cancer Fund's "Longest Day of Golf."

He was preceded in death by his parents and one grandchild.

Mr. Griffin is survived by his wife; one son, John Jay Griffin and his wife, Virginia, of Frankfort, Ill.; one daughter, Judy Hemphill and her husband, Don, of Spencer; one AFS Exchange son, Jens Rasmussen and his wife, Uila, of Copenhagen, Denmark; three grandchildren; two step-grandchildren; three step-great-grandchildren; and two sisters, Jean Runyan of Pinellas Park, Fla., and Mary Danley of Niles, Mich.

Source: Daily Reporter, Spencer, Clay County, Iowa; July 3, 1996.