[Nfbwv-talk] MABEL GRIFFITH OBITUARY

[Ed McDonald]

As many of you know by now, our long-time friend and colleague, Mabel Griffith, died on Monday. She was a founding member of our affiliate and of our Wheeling chapter, the Sightless Workers' Guild. She was a pioneer in our movement and a devoted Federationist. Here is her obituary:


 Mabel Maxine Griffith
 Mabel Minns Griffith, 95, of Wheeling died Monday, September 28, 2015 at Peterson Hospital. She was born December 14, 1919 in Wheeling, the daughter of Thomas J. and Elizabeth Minns.

Mabel's strong faith and dedication to her beliefs sustained her throughout a long life of challenge, reward, and accomplishment. She was a life-long member of the United Methodist Church and had a distinguished career as executive director of the Wheeling Area Council of Churches until her retirement in 1990-a career that began after raising two sons on her own and caring for her sightless mother.

She was born in 1919 in Wheeling, and spent her first 25 years as a popular fixture in her father's many small confectionaries in South and Center Wheeling where she made many friends, participated in the daily life of a bustling city, helped lift the spirits of her neighbors and customers, and assisted her parents through the Great Depression, World War II, and the everyday challenges of being sightless.

Mabel graduated from Wheeling High School in 1938 and met her husband, George W. Griffith, in one of her father's little confectionaries when she was 15. They married while he was on leave from the U.S. Army in April 1944. By 1954, her father, Tom, and George had passed away, leaving Mabel to raise her two sons with the help of her industrious and multitalented mother, Lizzie. She learned to drive, manage a small family business, keep her children happy, and remained involved in her church. She was active in the West Virginia Federation of the Blind and its Wheeling Chapter, the Sightless Workers Guild, where she provided volunteer logistics support, fund raising assistance, and transportation services to scores of blind people throughout the state.

When her sons were grown and her mother passed away after a long illness, Mabel went to work at the Council of Churches in 1974. For the next 16 years, she managed the Council's office and its many activities from Oglebay Vespers services and the popular School of Religion to Hymn Sing in the Park, early morning televised devotionals, newsletter publication and dozens of other tasks devoted to advancing the vision of uniting churches throughout the Wheeling area for service and worship.

Retirement brought travel for Mabel and she visited the Holy Lands, Ireland, and the British Isles and cruised oceans with a loyal band of close friends. It also brought more time to devote to leadership positions in two Wheeling Churches-Fourth Street United Methodist Church and Christ United Methodist Church where she transferred in 1996. Experienced in the art of crochet work, she crafted more than 100 lap blankets well into her 90s for Appalachian charities, often from donated scraps of yarn. She was a long-time member of the Wheeling Child Study Club and Church Women United and was an original associate member of the Sightless Workers Guild, a chapter of the National Federation of the Blind.

She leaves a legacy of faith, a love of her church, a tradition of service, and an unwavering dedication to her family. 

"Grieve for me just a little because you miss me," she wrote in a letter left for her family and friends. "Then pick up your tasks and move along remembering someday we will be together again in God's house to spend eternity together. Life has been good to me even though the path has been rough sometimes. Continue to do God's work in your time ahead because that's what happiness is made of."

She is survived by her sons, Terrill (Terry) Griffith of Pittsburgh and his wife, Janice Allen Griffith and Gerrill (Gerry) Griffith and his wife Cindy Carpenter Griffith of Washington, PA; three grandsons, Damon Griffith and his wife Sabrina of Santa Fe, NM, Conor Griffith of Morgantown, WV, and Travis Norris and his wife Megan of San Diego, CA; and three great-grandchildren, Grannia Griffith of Oregon and Olivia and Isaac of San Diego.

Visitation will be at Christ United Methodist Church in Wheeling on Wednesday September 30, 2015 from 5:00 PM until 8:00 PM, where services will be held on Thursday October 1, 2015 at 10:30 AM with Pastor Judy Liston and Reverend Margie Carr officiating. Burial will follow at Greenwood Cemetery in Wheeling. Arrangements by Kepner Funeral Home, 166 Kruger Street, Wheeling, WV (304-242-2311). In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial donations be made to either Christ United Methodist Church,1232 National Rd, Wheeling, WV 26003 or the Sightless Workers Guild, c/o Jack Yahnke, President, and PO BOX 6073, Wheeling, WV 26003. 

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