Rev. Joseph Harold Griffin

Rev. Joe Griffin

1917—2011

Rev. Joseph Harold Griffin, resident of the Somerville Community and longtime Baptist Minister peacefully departed this life Tuesday evening, June 21, 2011 at the residence of his daughter on Ebenezer Loop. He was 94 years of age and died following a brief illness.

Services Honoring the Life of Rev. Griffin were conducted at 11 A.M. Saturday, June 25 ^th at the Peebles West Funeral Chapel at Oakland with Rev. Jack Gresham of the First Baptist Church in Macon, TN, officiating. Interment followed in the Memory Hill Gardens Cemetery on North Germantown Parkway. Arrangements were provided by Peebles Fayette County Funeral Homes—West Chapel of Oakland.

A native of Cherry Valley, Arkansas, Rev. Griffin was born January 28, 1917. He was preceded in death by his parents, William Lorenzo Griffin and Greta Rachel Yates Griffin. Rev. Griffin graduated from high school in 1935. In 1932, at the age of 15, he was licensed as a Baptist Minister by the Jonesboro, Arkansas Baptist Church. At the age of 21 he married the former Lucille Kirksey of Jonesboro and was ordained to the Ministry at Walnut Street Baptist Church in Jonesboro. Rev. Griffin pastored Baptist Churches in Arkansas communities that included: Caraway, Black Oak, Brookland, Paragould and Turrel. In 1948, Rev. Griffin and his family moved to Memphis where he served as Pastor of Bellevue Mission for five years and at the Elliston Baptist Church for two years. He was instrumental in the formation of the Bethel Baptist Church in Memphis where he served as Pastor for 32 years before his retirement in 1988.

Rev. Griffin moved to Fayette County in 1997 and was preceded in death by his beloved wife on December 28, 1998. He continued his ministry in Fayette County by serving various organization that included, Maplewood Village Retirement Center, Fayette County Senior Citizens and Macon First Baptist Church, serving as a Baptist Minister and servant of God for a period that spanned 79 years. During his lifetime Rev. Griffin enjoyed gardening, canvas painting and tumbling polished gem stones that are used to make necklaces and Bola ties.

Rev. Griffin is survived by his daughter: Jeanie Baird (David) of Somerville, two sons: Jerry Griffin (Joyce) of Cummins, Georgia, Jimmy Griffin (Dianne) of Olatha, Kansas; a sister: Annie Eloise Tacket of Memphis; a brother: Wayne Lowell Griffin of Olive Branch, Mississippi; seven grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren. In addition to his parents and wife, Rev. Griffin was preceded in death by a granddaughter.

Those honored to serve as casketbearers were Stephen Griffin, Philip Griffin, Bobby Griffin, Brian Baird, Billy Baird and Christopher Baird.

The family requests that memorials be directed to the First Baptist Church of Macon Building Fund, 9895 Highway 193, Williston, TN 38076.

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