Errol Griffith
• Mom is 87 and her mind is not what it once was
• She was the fifth/sixth of eleven children
• Her dad died when she was 18, and Granny was innovative in raising them all on her own with discipline and a sense of what is right & wrong
• Mom attended ... Primary, The St. Micheal School, and Queen’s College
• Started teaching after finishing secondary school, and taught at St. Leonard’s
• Was among the first teachers at Springer Memorial. Griffith House is named after her
• We often heard the stories of her walking to and from SMS & QC (located then in Constitution Rd) every day and to Springer Memorial
• Attended James Street Methodist Church in her teens and became a member of the choir at age 16 and continue through to 2022, when it was clear her dementia symptoms were worsening. She was a member of the choir for 67 years
We are please to note that she can still sing every hymn in the hymn book by heart
• Mom was also a teacher in the weekly 3pm Sunday School and did this for 50 years, until evening Sunday School came to an end
• She disagreed with Sunday School being closed, and was willing to take the 30-minute journey from St. Philip, every Sunday evening, even if there was only one child in attendance
• We moved from St. Michael to St. Philip in 1981. Mom & Dad journeyed to & from James Street twice every Sunday, for the 9am church service and evening Sunday School every week
• Anyone could bank on the Griffiths being there every Sunday, even if late
• The only reasons for them not going to James Street were, illness, being off island, and the weather, but only if the Met Office issued a bulletin to stay off the road
• Mom met Vere, our dad, when she was ... and they got married when she was 21
• Everett was born that same year, I came along three years after they were married, and Yolande was a “love child” arriving 8 years after me
• Mom & Dad agreed that Mom should give up teaching after Yolande’s birth, so that she could give priority to raising the three of us
• So, our family lived off one salary after Yo came into this world
• One of the many benefits was that Mom cooked early in the mornings so Dad could have a hot meal to take to work. Everett & I reasoned it was better to eat our heavy meal prior to leaving for school so that we would not have to take flasks to school for lunch or be thinking all day about what was at home for dinner. Mom also prepared our sandwiches for lunch every school day, and there was always something she baked to accompany them
• One of the stipulations in our family was that Sunday School was to be compulsory until the age of 18 and church till 21,
o They never spent a ‘bad cent”, and never focused on the material, other than Daddy for his dressing and how his hair looked
o Mom never once focused on fashion or her appearance other than being clean and presentable. She never once wore high heals. For her sacrificing comfort for appearance never made sense.
o We were given a monetary allowance at the beginning of every month from an early age, to be used however we chose, with the understanding there was no going back for more when it ran out
o Not once in our lives did we hear our pare
May 23, 2026
