Lucile J Griffin

Lucile Moore Johnston Griffin died peacefully surrounded by her family on February 5, 2024 at her long-time residence, Canterbury Court in Atlanta, Georgia. Lucile was born at home September 19, 1934 in Thomaston, Georgia, the first child of William Gibson Johnston and Lucile Marguerite Moore Johnston. She met the love of her life, William Caldwell ('Grif") Griffin, on a blind date her senior year at Columbus (Georgia) High School. Lucile attended Mary Washington College after graduation. Lucile and Grif married on her 18th birthday, and the two moved to Athens, Georgia to attend the University of Georgia. Lucile studied early childhood education and library science and was a member of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, graduating with a B.S. in Education in 1955. After graduation, Lucile and Grif embarked on the adventure of United States Air Force life.

Lucile embraced the challenges and cultural and social diversity of life lived in various places across the United States, Europe and Africa. In adulthood, she studied French privately and at the United States Department of Foreign Service Institute and became a proficient speaker and a lifelong Francophile. With this skill and her charm, elegance, intelligence, and impeccable etiquette she thrived in the role of Air Force spouse and maintained world-wide friendships throughout her life.

Lucile loved to recount her adventures as a global citizen to her children and grandchildren: early 1960s road rallies in the Champagne Province with Grif in their red MG convertible; wearing long underwear under a formal gown for dinner in an unheated chateau; flying into Kigali for a fire-lit dinner in the garden of the American Embassy. She also reveled in the happy memories of her girlhood in Thomaston, Georgia: riding her pony Nehi down the street to her grandparents' house; leaping across the terraces of the blooming peach orchard on the family farm; touring the dirt roads of Upson County with her beloved father; shopping at J.P. Allen in downtown Atlanta after a doctor visit with her mother; and pulling her wagon from house to house to collect foil and metal scraps for the war effort. The ruler whacks on the knuckles from her first piano teacher didn't deter Lucile from a lifetime love of classical music and jazz, and she honed her innate talent for playing any popular song, once heard, by ear.

Lucile served on concert and arts committees in many communities and was a founding board member of the Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts in Valdosta, Georgia. She was an enthusiastic audience for her grandsons' amateur, and later professional, artistic and musical accomplishments and careers. Lucile also taught kindergarten and worked in libraries over the years. She was a member of the General James Jackson Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Lucile was a devout Episcopalian and a member of Christ Episcopal Church, Valdosta, Georgia.

Lucile was a devoted and loving wife to Grif for sixty-six years, and embodied and honored their mutual 1952 vow of "in sickness and in health" during many decades of physical hardship following Grif's service injuries. She is survived by her children, William Moore Griffin and Schaune Caldwell Griffin; by her grandchildren Sean Cooper Carter (Rebekah Goforth), Evan Durant Carter (Sophia Farrara) and Adrian Russell Carter, and great-granddaughter Paige Louise Carter (all of Atlanta). Her siblings survive her: Ann Johnston Davis, of Como, Mississippi; William Gibson Johnston, Jr. (Barbara Caldwell); and Thomas Moore Johnston (Corinne Brown), all of Thomaston: also many nieces, nephews, and great-nieces and nephews.

The Episcopal Office of Burial of the Dead Rite 1 will be held on February 24, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. at Holy Trinity Parish, Decatur, Georgia, reception to follow. Interment of her ashes will take place in Glenwood Cemetery, Thomaston, Georgia on February 25, 2024 at 11:30 a.m.

Contributions in Lucile's memory may be made to the Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts or to Christ Episcopal Church, Valdosta. Her family thanks the devoted caregivers and office staff of Personal Care, Inc. and the staff at Canterbury Court for their compassionate and professional care of Lucile in her final years.