Maryjosephine McGuire Griffin peacefully “crossed the bar” early Thursday morning, April 26, 2018, in Jacksonville, Fla., after living a dynamic and full life of 94 years, including 54 years of marriage to her late husband, Ransom Griffin Jr., whom she knows awaits her on the “other side.”
Daughter to William Carmichael McGuire and Florence Aileen Mahan, Mary Jo was born September 1, 1923 and grew up in Indianapolis, Ind., where she and Ransom lived and worked until his retirement in 1984 when they moved to Amelia Island, Fla.
In 1941, during her first year at National Park College in Washington, D.C., Mary Jo was first introduced to a long life of volunteerism that she followed nearly to the end of her life. During World War II, she worked for the British Embassy “Knitting for Britain” to help clothe the victims of war. When NPC closed its doors, she resumed and completed her education at Indiana University, where she continued her humanitarian work through the sorority Kappa Kappa Gamma as a veterans’ hospital aide and USO volunteer. She was active in the Indianapolis chapter of the Junior League, which had her working with unwed mothers while she worked as a travel agent for Neibergall Travel. Mary Jo took most pride in her work in Fernandina Beach and environs for Guardian ad Litem, advocating for abused and neglected children in the local court system well into her eighties. Throughout her adult life, her beloved knitting group, Darn Yarners, created sweaters and blankets for the underserved in the same spirit she embraced in college.
Mary Jo and Ransom spent their leisure time watching their boys play sports at Park Tudor High School and nearby Meridian Hills Country Club. They attended church at Second Presbyterian Church (designed by Mary Jo’s father of McGuire Shook in 1959).
Mary Jo is survived by three sons, Ransom Griffin III, William Carmichael McGuire Griffin (Lynn), and Lee Theodore Griffin (Gisela). “Grandma Mo” also had eight grandchildren, Ransom IV (Alexandra), Winward (Stephanie), Nora (Alan), McGuire (Katherine), Lindsay, Elizabeth, Patrick, and Emily, and five great-grandchildren, Benjamin, Theodore, Abigail, Ava Griffin and Livingston.
The family will have a small memorial service to celebrate her life at Amelia Island in early June.
In lieu of flowers, anyone who wishes is invited to contribute to Guardian ad Litem or Community Hospice.