Joseph George Griffin

Joseph Griffin, Jr., was born November 9, 1928 in Rice Lake, WI, to Joseph and Phoebe Griffin. Joe was known as “Junior” until his early twenties. He spent his early years on the Griffin dairy farm in Birchwood, WI, where he learned to milk cows, drive a team of horses and a tractor. The farm was near many great lakes in Northern Wisconsin. By age 10, he was not only a competent fisherman, he owned his own rowboat and enjoyed hunting. At the age of 12, his mother, a school teacher, recognized that Joe was a people person and decided to cultivate his talents of salesmanship by having him sell fresh eggs and fresh frying chickens. This was the beginning of his life as a salesman. Always enterprising and never afraid of hard work, Joe mowed lawns and spaded gardens, taking home 25-cents for an entire afternoon of labor. During his junior high school years, he worked in a corn and pea cannery, and when he was old enough to get his driver’s license, as a driver for the cannery. “Junior” was always industrious and eager to work. For high school, Joe’s parents sent him to a private Christian school in Wessington Springs, South Dakota. For him, this was another adventure; school was secondary. Wanting to earn money for his exploits, he immediately got a job at a local grocery store. Sweeping floors and breaking down boxes, he earned 25-cents an hour. He also had other part-time jobs at his private boarding school, delivering mail, and when he was a Junior in high school, three days a week, he was in the school’s kitchen by 3:00 AM to bake 80 loaves of bread before the school day started. It was during these years that a lifelong faith in his Lord Jesus Christ developed, and the joy of that relationship was constantly on his face. That same year in high school, he met the love of his life, Leona Van Canneyt. They met at a Christian youth camp, and the year after he graduated from high school, they were married in Burtrum, Minnesota. Joe often said, “Before I learned how to spell her name, I got her married.” After getting married, the newlyweds lived in Wessington Springs, SD, where they both attended college for two years before moving to Seattle where Joe attended Seattle Pacific College. Shortly after arriving in Seattle, Joe was hired as a cashier and then night manager at a Magnolia grocery store. He worked while continuing his education at SPC, and was subsequently recruited by the Wonder Bread Company, to be a salesman. At this point in Joe’s life, a fellow classmate told him that his name was no longer “Junior.” He had a career, so he needed to be known by his given name, “Joe.” Joe loved his new job, selling bread and hamburger buns to grocery stores and restaurants in Kirkland, Juanita, Redmond, and other Lake Washington communities. Fifteen years later, his sales successes resulted in an offer to sell Grandma’s Cookies, and then Mother’s Cookies for another 22 years. “Selling” and “people” were his life. But though he won many sales awards during his career, it was their involvements with friends which captured most of their free time. Everyone was welcome at Joe and Leona’s home. Sunday dinner was a weekly time of hospitality that was enjoyed by old friends and new ones, including those they had just met that morning when they visited the church the Griffins attended. In 1991, Joe retired. He and Leona bought a motor home, and they hit the road for two years. During these months they took their motor home to 49 states. They also travelled to Hawaii, Canada, Mexico, Europe, the Panama Canal, a number of Caribbean islands, and Guatemala. Since Joe never got enough sunshine while RV-ing, they eventually left the road and bought a home in the California sunshine, Sky Valley Park (Palm Springs area). But each summer, they returned to family in the Seattle area, where Joe continued to brighten days by telling jokes and humoring friends, and everyone he met as a courtesy clerk at the local Richmond Beach QFC grocery store. Joe spent many years serving and teaching at North City (now Shoreline) Free Methodist Church and as a greeter and usher at First Free Methodist Church in Seattle. For the past five years, Joe and Leona have lived in assisted living in Edmonds and Everett, WA. Next Thursday, they would have been married 71 years, a joy-filled legacy and example of commitment. On May 11, 2020, Joe was diagnosed with COVID-19, and 48 hours later, he passed peacefully into eternity with our Lord Jesus Christ. He is now together again with his son, Steven, sisters, MayBelle Heino and Marjorie Scott, and brother, Charles Griffin. Joe is survived by his wife, Leona; daughter, Peggy Swanstrom (Sig); son, Rod (Diana); daughter-in-law, Rhonda Griffin, and also 15 grandchildren and 33 great-grandchildren. A Celebration of Life will be held at a later time. A Celebration of Life service for both Joe and Leona will be held on Sunday, November 7 at 3:00 PM, Shoreline Free Methodist Church, 510 – 175th Street NE, Shoreline, WA 98155. Remembrances and memorials can be sent to Shoreline Free Methodist Church.