My dad, James Clifford Griffin, was born on December 19, 1911 in Oakland, California. His mother was Meta Leithoff and his father was John Henry Griffin.
There were 8 children in his family:
William Francis who only lived to be 3 years old and died before my dad was born
William Francis who only lived to be 3 years old and died before my dad was born
Raymond John who was born in 1904 and died at the age of 19 in 1923
Florence Kathryn who married Albert Hager and lived in San Francisco and San Mateo, California for most of her life. I remember visiting her in both places and playing with her grandchildren. We played lots of games at her house. She was born in 1905 and died in 1981. I remember that she always gave me pajamas for Christmas!
Evelyn Marie was born in 1905 and she married Frank Holecek. They had one son Robert and they lived in Oakland. They had a dog named Rusty. My family lived with them for about a year when I was in first grade. The neighborhood kids made a fort in her basement and we called it the Basement club. My Aunt Evy used to take my sister and I to Catholic Mass (Church) when we would come and visit her. I like to go there because I had to wear a hat when I went. We always had Christmas Eve at my Aunt Evy's house - someday I'll tell you about Christmas eve there... it was magical.
John Henry (Jack) was born in 1909 to 1953. I don't remember him although I was 3 when he died. My dad really loved this brother. I know he was very kind. He was crippled and had a hard time getting around. He never married. If I had been a boy my name would have also been John Henry for my uncle Jack and my Grandfather.
James Clifford is my dad. He was born on December 19, 19ll and died in February of 1993. I will tell you more about him later.
Edna Irene was born August 25, 1914. She married Bill Danska, they weren't able to have any children. We called her Auntie Perk. I loved to go to here house in Orinda because you had to travel through the Oakland Tunnel to get there and they had a swimming pool and basketball court in their backyard... plus they had a gulley down below where we could play in the little stream. My Auntie Perk died when I was only 8 years old on June 16, 1958 of a heart attack. I still remember staying overnight at her house and how kind she always was to me.
Grace Margaret is the aunt I remember the best. She was always lots of fun. She travelled all over the world (Germany, France, Japan) because her husband George was in the Army. She was born on July 25, 1916 and died on May 25, 1996. She had two daughters Gayle and Diane. I spent a lot of time with them. Auntie Gay was always so good to me and I love her so much.
My grandmother Meta died before I was born so I never knew her but I know that everyone loved her. She was born on April 3, 1883 in Hamburg, Germany and died on January 16, 1939 in Oakland, California. She was a widow for many years and raised my dad and his younger siblings alone. Her father was a sea captain and came to the United States after Meta was born.
My grandfather John Henry was born in San Francisco, California on November 20, 1971 and he died in August 1923. I never realized until writing this for you that he was a lot older than my grandmother. I don't know a lot about him except that my dad told me that he was a "promoter" in San Francisco and they named a street (Griffin Street) after him. I saw the street once but it is no longer there - I really don't know if my dad was kidding me or not. I was always told that my Grandfather was an orphan although I believe that from the 1880 census he is listed as a child of James Griffin which would have made him 8 years old at that time.
I am telling you about my dad's family because they were very important to him. I never heard him say a harsh or unkind word about any of his siblings. He was raised in a home full of family and he worked hard to help his mother after his father died. At a young age he would get up early in the morning and get newspapers that he sold on the street corners of Oakland. He also worked as a golf caddie. I don't really know a lot about his early years until he married my mother, Eileen Cockayne in January 16, 1943. He had been married before that to May Schultz but he never talked about that time with me... infact I was over 10 years old before I knew that he had been married before he married my mother.
During World War ll my father worked in the ship yards where he helped build and repair war ships. He had vericose veins and could not serve in the regular armed services.
I think my dad and my mother met in Lodi, California and I believe my dad was a milkman at the time. They were married somewhere in California and then lived in Lodi. My mother already had two boys, Steven Arthur and Carl Michael. I was not born for 7 1/2 years after they were married. I was born in Lodi, California on July 9, 1950 and my sister, Colleen (Kelly) was born on October 20, 1952. My dad was a policeman at that time.
After my sister was born my dad became sick with Polio. It did not cripple him or anything which was a great blessing.
My dad quit the police force sometime in the early 50's and went to work as a fireman. He did not like working as a fireman because there was too much "down time" where he had nothing to do. He liked being a policeman but was never able to do that again since he was in his 40's and too old in those days to work like that.
When I was 4 we sold our house in Lodi and moved to Salt Lake City. My dad worked at several jobs there including an insurance salesman. My mother's family was from Utah and so I think that is why they moved there. I do not think my dad liked the snow and ice and infact he fell on the ice and hurt something or other. He also had mumps while we lived there.
We moved back to California when I was in first grade. We lived with my Aunt Evy and Uncle Frank for a few months before we found a house in Berkeley. My dad worked first for Hertz Truck Rental and then transferred over to Hertz Car Rental. He stayed with Hertz until he retired in 1970 something. He started as a book keeper and was promoted to an assistant manager in Oakland then to San Francisco as an assistant manager and finally as a General manager in Oakland.
When I turned 7 my Auntie Perk died and so we moved to Orinda to live with and help my Uncle Bill. We lived there for a year and we loved it but my Uncle remarried and so we moved to Berkeley on Solano Avenue. I remember my dad teaching me about work. I would mow the strip of lawn and help pull weeds. We would enter my earnings on a log book and he tried to teach me about book-keeping. During this time I remember that my dad also worked at a second job painting CF on Certified Trucks. I thought he was brilliant being able to do that so perfectly because I never realized that he probably had a stencil to work with. My dad worked many long hard hours so that my mom could stay home with Kelly and me. I have always been grateful for that because by the time I was 14 and Kelly was 12 my mother died of cancer. I am so thankful that we had as much time as we did with her.
Another thing that was a great blessing to me is that my father borrowed money one year so that our family could take a trip across the country to New Jersey to visit with my brother Mike and his wife Kathy. We also visited in Washington DC with my mother's sister Alice and her family. It was a most wonderful trip that I have never forgotten but also knowing that within a year my mom would be sick and then die, I am so grateful that my dad spent that money on our family so that we could share that time, but also so that my mom could have that chance to see her sister and her son again.
After my mother died October 19, 1964 my dad, my sister, and I moved to Castro Valley, California to live nearer my Auntie Gay. My dad did a good job raising my sister and I during this time. It was not easy for him to be a single parent. He made sure that we were provided for. He took us on several trips and day trips. One I remember was to Lake Tahoe so we could see the snow (we loved the snow in those days and we didn't get snow where we lived). Another was to Seattle, Washington and then down through Idaho and to see our mother's family in Salt Lake.
Florence Kathryn who married Albert Hager and lived in San Francisco and San Mateo, California for most of her life. I remember visiting her in both places and playing with her grandchildren. We played lots of games at her house. She was born in 1905 and died in 1981. I remember that she always gave me pajamas for Christmas!
Evelyn Marie was born in 1905 and she married Frank Holecek. They had one son Robert and they lived in Oakland. They had a dog named Rusty. My family lived with them for about a year when I was in first grade. The neighborhood kids made a fort in her basement and we called it the Basement club. My Aunt Evy used to take my sister and I to Catholic Mass (Church) when we would come and visit her. I like to go there because I had to wear a hat when I went. We always had Christmas Eve at my Aunt Evy's house - someday I'll tell you about Christmas eve there... it was magical.
John Henry (Jack) was born in 1909 to 1953. I don't remember him although I was 3 when he died. My dad really loved this brother. I know he was very kind. He was crippled and had a hard time getting around. He never married. If I had been a boy my name would have also been John Henry for my uncle Jack and my Grandfather.
James Clifford is my dad. He was born on December 19, 19ll and died in February of 1993. I will tell you more about him later.
Edna Irene was born August 25, 1914. She married Bill Danska, they weren't able to have any children. We called her Auntie Perk. I loved to go to here house in Orinda because you had to travel through the Oakland Tunnel to get there and they had a swimming pool and basketball court in their backyard... plus they had a gulley down below where we could play in the little stream. My Auntie Perk died when I was only 8 years old on June 16, 1958 of a heart attack. I still remember staying overnight at her house and how kind she always was to me.
Grace Margaret is the aunt I remember the best. She was always lots of fun. She travelled all over the world (Germany, France, Japan) because her husband George was in the Army. She was born on July 25, 1916 and died on May 25, 1996. She had two daughters Gayle and Diane. I spent a lot of time with them. Auntie Gay was always so good to me and I love her so much.
My grandmother Meta died before I was born so I never knew her but I know that everyone loved her. She was born on April 3, 1883 in Hamburg, Germany and died on January 16, 1939 in Oakland, California. She was a widow for many years and raised my dad and his younger siblings alone. Her father was a sea captain and came to the United States after Meta was born.
My grandfather John Henry was born in San Francisco, California on November 20, 1971 and he died in August 1923. I never realized until writing this for you that he was a lot older than my grandmother. I don't know a lot about him except that my dad told me that he was a "promoter" in San Francisco and they named a street (Griffin Street) after him. I saw the street once but it is no longer there - I really don't know if my dad was kidding me or not. I was always told that my Grandfather was an orphan although I believe that from the 1880 census he is listed as a child of James Griffin which would have made him 8 years old at that time.
I am telling you about my dad's family because they were very important to him. I never heard him say a harsh or unkind word about any of his siblings. He was raised in a home full of family and he worked hard to help his mother after his father died. At a young age he would get up early in the morning and get newspapers that he sold on the street corners of Oakland. He also worked as a golf caddie. I don't really know a lot about his early years until he married my mother, Eileen Cockayne in January 16, 1943. He had been married before that to May Schultz but he never talked about that time with me... infact I was over 10 years old before I knew that he had been married before he married my mother.
During World War ll my father worked in the ship yards where he helped build and repair war ships. He had vericose veins and could not serve in the regular armed services.
I think my dad and my mother met in Lodi, California and I believe my dad was a milkman at the time. They were married somewhere in California and then lived in Lodi. My mother already had two boys, Steven Arthur and Carl Michael. I was not born for 7 1/2 years after they were married. I was born in Lodi, California on July 9, 1950 and my sister, Colleen (Kelly) was born on October 20, 1952. My dad was a policeman at that time.
After my sister was born my dad became sick with Polio. It did not cripple him or anything which was a great blessing.
My dad quit the police force sometime in the early 50's and went to work as a fireman. He did not like working as a fireman because there was too much "down time" where he had nothing to do. He liked being a policeman but was never able to do that again since he was in his 40's and too old in those days to work like that.
When I was 4 we sold our house in Lodi and moved to Salt Lake City. My dad worked at several jobs there including an insurance salesman. My mother's family was from Utah and so I think that is why they moved there. I do not think my dad liked the snow and ice and infact he fell on the ice and hurt something or other. He also had mumps while we lived there.
We moved back to California when I was in first grade. We lived with my Aunt Evy and Uncle Frank for a few months before we found a house in Berkeley. My dad worked first for Hertz Truck Rental and then transferred over to Hertz Car Rental. He stayed with Hertz until he retired in 1970 something. He started as a book keeper and was promoted to an assistant manager in Oakland then to San Francisco as an assistant manager and finally as a General manager in Oakland.
When I turned 7 my Auntie Perk died and so we moved to Orinda to live with and help my Uncle Bill. We lived there for a year and we loved it but my Uncle remarried and so we moved to Berkeley on Solano Avenue. I remember my dad teaching me about work. I would mow the strip of lawn and help pull weeds. We would enter my earnings on a log book and he tried to teach me about book-keeping. During this time I remember that my dad also worked at a second job painting CF on Certified Trucks. I thought he was brilliant being able to do that so perfectly because I never realized that he probably had a stencil to work with. My dad worked many long hard hours so that my mom could stay home with Kelly and me. I have always been grateful for that because by the time I was 14 and Kelly was 12 my mother died of cancer. I am so thankful that we had as much time as we did with her.
Another thing that was a great blessing to me is that my father borrowed money one year so that our family could take a trip across the country to New Jersey to visit with my brother Mike and his wife Kathy. We also visited in Washington DC with my mother's sister Alice and her family. It was a most wonderful trip that I have never forgotten but also knowing that within a year my mom would be sick and then die, I am so grateful that my dad spent that money on our family so that we could share that time, but also so that my mom could have that chance to see her sister and her son again.
After my mother died October 19, 1964 my dad, my sister, and I moved to Castro Valley, California to live nearer my Auntie Gay. My dad did a good job raising my sister and I during this time. It was not easy for him to be a single parent. He made sure that we were provided for. He took us on several trips and day trips. One I remember was to Lake Tahoe so we could see the snow (we loved the snow in those days and we didn't get snow where we lived). Another was to Seattle, Washington and then down through Idaho and to see our mother's family in Salt Lake.
I also remember several trips when my mom was alive. We went to Disneyland one year when I was 8 and we also visited Catalina Island and some other sites in Los Angelas. When I was a little older we went to Tucson, Arizona one year and also visited the Grand Canyon.
The Oakland Temple was dedicated the same year that my mother died and during the week she died we went to see the temple together. I think it was a comfort to my father. Although he never joined the church he was very supportive. He always made sure that we got to church and seminary and our mutual activities. He helped me memorize my Articles of Faith. He attended all of our programs and frequently came to Sacrament meetings.
My dad had several activities that he enjoyed. He played baseball with our Orinda Ward team and had such a great time. He would be so sore at night after he had played but he would go back the next week and play again! He especially loved to play golf and played with a group weekly until he had a stroke in 1989. One of his golfing buddies put some golf balls with him in his casket (just in case the play golf in heaven). He also watched Friday Night Fights (or maybe it was Wednesday Night Fights) every week.
My dad was very good to his little girls. He loved to sing songs in the car with my mom but also liked to sing songs and dance with us having us stand on his feet. In our Berkeley 2ndward we had a Primary Girls dance every year. My dad would buy us a corsage and take us to dinner and then to the dance. It was a special evening!
After we moved to Castro Valley we lived in an apartment house for a couple of years. In 1967 my dad married Marie and we lived in a house close by your Grandpa Jim. My dad and Marie were married for over 25 years. They also lived in Alameda and San Leandro, California. My dad was a very friendly person and he had a lot of friends in those areas.
My dad and Marie came to visit our family when we moved to Carson City and then later when we moved to Salt Lake City and also to Honolulu, Hawaii. They were always good to their grandchildren and never forgot a birthday or Christmas presents.
When my dad was about 78 he had a stroke and had to stay in a wheelchair after that. We (meaning Grandpa Jim and me and our family) got to see him when we came back from living in Honolulu. We got to visit a few times before he died in 1993.
He was a very kind man and he taught me many things about being honest and trying to do my best. One year he asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up and although I was just 8 I thought I might like to become the first woman president of the United States. I remember that he didn’t even laugh at that but encouraged me to do whatever I set my mind to. I decided later to just be a mom and when you are a mom of 8 active children I think you just might work as hard or harder than the President of the United States.
He always worked hard and made sure he did a good job. When he was living in San Leandro he had a little garden that was on his property and he liked to show the kids (your Aunts and Uncles) what he was growing.
My dad was also very artistic. He painted Christmas pictures on our house windows several times when I was growing up. I thought they were fantastic. He also had the most beautiful handwriting I have ever seen. No one has ever matched his ability to have such beautiful penmenship. I will try and find something he has written so you can see how perfect and beautiful it was. He was also a perfect bow tier and my mother would always have him tie bows for my sister and my dresses when we were growing up!
I know there are other things I would like to tell you about my father. I will work on that so that you can get to know him better. Lots of things I do not know because he didn’t talk a lot and I wasn’t smart enough to ask the right questions. I am glad that your mom has asked you to find out more about your ancestors so that you can have a closer feeling to them. I can tell you that if you grow up to be as fine a man as your great-grandpa Jim… you will have done well in your life. I know you will look forward to the day when you can meet him in Heaven.
I mentioned I would add a couple of things and so I will. Grandpa loved to watch baseball. It was common to find a game on the tv when we went to visit. He loved the game. I have in my possession still today a handkerchief that has the A's logo in the middle and says Beat the Yankees! on it. It is great. I remember playing catch with him in the street in front of his house - that is baseball catch and we could have done it for hours and it was a regular part of our visits.
Mom mentioned the garden. He did love it and he did walk us around out back to show us the planter boxes that were always well maintained. I don't recall anything he grew in that garden with the exception of strawberries. Beautiful red strawberries ready to be eaten. I am sure there were plenty of other things growing in his garden but it was hard for me to get beyond those strawberries.
During our garden visits Grandpa Jim would often take those opportunities to sneak a little smoke. Grandma Marie was not a fan of his smoking and so that was his secret smoke time. On that same note let me just say that during my last visit with him before he passed I stood at his bedside with Jim. Jim had just returned home from his mission and I was just getting ready to leave. He gave us some council that day that involved our obstaining from alchohol and tobacco. He talked about those as regrets in his life and was very clear that we should not touch it and that we should take care of ourselves. I have ever remembered that council.
I would like to include that recently my brother Jim had the opportunity to perform the temple work on behalf of Grandpa Jim. That was a real treat for him and for all of us. So very grateful for that and the small miracles that allowed for that to happen.
Anyway, I love James Clifford Griffin. I am grateful for his life, for his love of family, for his intergrity. Thank you mom for sharing this peice of our family history.
I mentioned I would add a couple of things and so I will. Grandpa loved to watch baseball. It was common to find a game on the tv when we went to visit. He loved the game. I have in my possession still today a handkerchief that has the A's logo in the middle and says Beat the Yankees! on it. It is great. I remember playing catch with him in the street in front of his house - that is baseball catch and we could have done it for hours and it was a regular part of our visits.
Mom mentioned the garden. He did love it and he did walk us around out back to show us the planter boxes that were always well maintained. I don't recall anything he grew in that garden with the exception of strawberries. Beautiful red strawberries ready to be eaten. I am sure there were plenty of other things growing in his garden but it was hard for me to get beyond those strawberries.
During our garden visits Grandpa Jim would often take those opportunities to sneak a little smoke. Grandma Marie was not a fan of his smoking and so that was his secret smoke time. On that same note let me just say that during my last visit with him before he passed I stood at his bedside with Jim. Jim had just returned home from his mission and I was just getting ready to leave. He gave us some council that day that involved our obstaining from alchohol and tobacco. He talked about those as regrets in his life and was very clear that we should not touch it and that we should take care of ourselves. I have ever remembered that council.
I would like to include that recently my brother Jim had the opportunity to perform the temple work on behalf of Grandpa Jim. That was a real treat for him and for all of us. So very grateful for that and the small miracles that allowed for that to happen.
Anyway, I love James Clifford Griffin. I am grateful for his life, for his love of family, for his intergrity. Thank you mom for sharing this peice of our family history.
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