March 28, 2024

Vina Viola Griffith

Vina Viola Griffith, 93, of Grinnell died on Monday, Dec. 31, 2012, at St. Francis Manor.

A memorial service will be at 1 p.m. Friday, Jan. 4, 2013, at the Smith Funeral Home in Grinnell.  Burial will follow at Bethel Cemetery, rural Jasper County.

Memorials may be designated to Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Newton. Memorials may be mailed in care of the Smith Funeral Home, P.O. Box 368, Grinnell, Iowa 50112. Memories and condolences may be shared with Viola’s family at www.smithfh.com.

Viola was born on Jan. 29, 1919, the daughter of William H. and Mary Bell McFarland Van Dusen in Mountain Grove, Missouri.  She attended school in Kansas and Oregon.

On Jan. 9, 1946, she married Carl W. Griffith in Portland, Ore. Following their marriage, they returned to Iowa and farmed in the Rock Creek area until 1953. Viola was a homemaker and worked for Smith & Jones Midwest Manufacturing Company in Kellogg for 30 years, until her retirement in 1984.

Viola was a member of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Newton, the Kellogg American Legion Auxiliary and the Kellogg Senior Citizens. She enjoyed being involved in her church, cooking, reading and working in her flower beds. She was a wonderful and generous wife, mother, daughter and sister, and an amazing grandmother and great grandmother. Her love was her greatest gift to her family.

She is survived by her two sons, Charles W. (Lisa) Griffith and Jack W. (Norma) Griffith, both of Grinnell; her sister, Margery L. Van Dusen of Salt Lake City, Utah; eight grandchildren, Holly (Eric) Norton, Nicholas Griffith, Jaicy Skaggs, Jason (Sommer) Kibbee, Clint Griffith, Courtney Lenz, Abbey Lenz and Nathan Lenz; and seven great grandchildren.

Viola was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Carl, in 1977, and one brother, Vearl V. Van Dusen.