Fred Darrell Griffith

Fred, “Phred”, Darrell Griffith passed away peacefully entering into heaven December 27th, 2016 at Milwaukie Providence Hospital in Milwaukie Oregon. Fred was born in Spokane WA April 6th 1926 to Fred D and Pearl Griffith. After graduating from Lewis and Clark High School in Spokane in 1944, Fred enlisted in the Navy. He was stationed during his time in the service at the Alameda Naval Air Station in Alameda California serving as part of a crash boat crew responding to emergencies in the San Francisco Bay. Fred enjoyed his time serving his country and was honorably discharged as a Seaman First Class in July of 1946. Fred returned to Spokane after his time in the service and entered Eastern Washington College where he eventually majored in education and business. It was during this time in his life where he was introduced to the one that would be the love of his life and future wife, Roberta Monroe. After graduating from college Fred accepted a teaching and coaching position in Bridgeport Washington, the home town of Roberta and where she was teaching at the time. Eventually Fred and Roberta were married in Bridgeport on January 13th, 1951. Fred left the teaching profession to take a position with working on building the Chief Joseph Dam in Bridgeport. Fred and Roberta relocated to Ephrata Washington in 1955 where Fred took a job working for a local clothing store. He thoroughly enjoyed the job, but when a position opened up at the PUD he felt it would be a better career move for him. Fred continued to work at the PUD until his retirement in 1992 as an insurance officer. He actually went back to work as a contractor taking on special assignments for the PUD after his retirement. Fred talked very fondly of his time working with the PUD and made many lifelong friends during his career. After a health scare in his early 60’s Fred decided that he needed to take up a more active lifestyle and began walking. To keep things interesting he begin to log the miles that he walked. By 1994 Fred had calculated that he had walked the equivalent miles of walking around the earth. He continued logging many miles until health issues caused him to slow down in his mid-80’s. Fred loved his family very much and would often talk of how much he missed his beloved Roberta after her passing in 2004. Fred is survived by his son Rick and wife Lisa of Yakima and son Michael and wife Shawn of Milwaukie Oregon. Fred is survived as well by his grandchildren Michael and wife Ashley, Jordana, Jeremiah, Grace, Alex, and Joshua. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to GracePoint Church missions.

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Fred Darrell Griffith

April 6, 1926 - December 27, 2016