Griffin, Bryan (1897-1981)

GRIFFIN, MILLS, MILLER, ADAMS, GILBERT, KLECKNER, LEATHERS, BOYLE, PINKSTAFF

Posted By: Janelle Martin (email)
Date: 5/22/2017 at 17:43:19

Daily Freeman Journal, Webster City, IA - Jan. 19, 1981

Bryan Griffin, 83, longtime Webster City Resident, died Saturday morning at his home nine miles northeast of Webster City. He had been in ill health the past several years.

Funeral services will be at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Foster funeral home with the Rev. Paul Williams officiating and with burial in the Cass Center cemetery.

Flag-folding ceremonies will be held at graveside with the American Legion Post 191 in charge.

Bryan Griffin, son of Charles and Amy Mills Griffin, was born July 1, 1897, at Birds, Ill. He attended rural schools in that area. Both of his parents died when he was 12 and he made his home with his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. John Griffin at Birds. At the age of 14, he struck out on his own, and in 1914 he came to the Webster City area where he was employed in farm work.

He enlisted in the U.S. Army May 17, 1917 and served with the famed Rainbow Division in Europe and in 1918 served with the unit as part of the U.S. Army of Occupation in Germany.

The division returned to the U.S. in 1919 and he was mustered out at Des Moines and returned to Webster City May 17, 1919.

He was married July 16, 1919 to Mary Miller, and the couple resided on a farm near Blairsburg where they lived for 27 years. In March 1942, the family moved to a farm near Buffalo Center, residing there for 19 years. The family returned to this community in 1961, making their home on the Miller family farm nine miles northeast of Webster City. He retired from farming in 1967 but continued to reside on the farm.

He is survived by his wife; two daughters and two sons, Mrs. Ruth Adams, Webster City, Mrs. Glen (Kathryn) Gilbert of Webster City, Lee Griffin, Buffalo Center and Ray Griffin at home; six grandchildren, Jim Adams, Webster City, Michael Adams, Dodge Center, Minn., Mrs. Darrell (Amy) Kleckner, Altoona, Bryan Gilbert, Webster City, Julie Griffin, Austin, Minn., and Edward Griffin, Buffalo Center; five great-grandchildren, Bruce Adams, Webster City, Shawne and Kristy Kleckner, Altoona, Chad and Brooke Adams, Dodge Center; two sisters, Edna Leathers, St. Petersburg, Fla., and Lorena Boyle, West Plains, Mo.; several nieces and nephews; and one aunt, Amanda Pinkstaff, Flat Rock, Ill.

He was preceded in death by two grandchildren, his parents, two brothers and two sisters.

He was a member of the American Legion Post in Webster City, and the VFW of Buffalo Center.

He was the last surviving member of the Last Man’s Club of the Rainbow Division in Webster City.