Tim Griffith

TIMOTHY R. GRIFFITH

Tim Griffith, 60, passed away Monday, July
21, 2008 in Mesa, Arizona. Tim was born and raised in Akron, Ohio and attended St. Paul Elementary and Archbishop Hoban High School. He graduated from St. Edward's University
in Austin, Texas where he married Penny Garland, the mother of his three
children: T.K., Shaun and Kevin. He later received a Masters Degree in Special Education from the University of Tennessee. Tim worked as a special education administrator for the Kent City School district. He retired from Kent and married Patti Stemple from Akron, and moved to Battle Creek, Michigan and then Gold Canyon, Arizona in 2003, where he spent many happy years with Patti, her mother Ruth and family in the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Tim raised three boys in Stow, Ohio and volunteered as athletic director at Holy Family for ten
years. He never met a stranger and lived his life believing in random acts of kindness. He loved sports …listening to the closing minutes of a Browns or Indians game on the radio or playing catch with the boys in the backyard, fishing excursions to Granny's Castle at Lake Milton or going to Hoban football games on Friday night. He was a great Dad-- from folding newspapers on Sunday mornings and driving the boys on the paper route to encouraging us to go for our dreams. Tim coached many of his sons' youth teams, often with help from lifelong friend
Tom Goodall with whom he shared a love of people and good humor.

Tim received the Distinguished Alumni award from Hoban High School for his
efforts in starting and developing the Hoban Alumni Association and golf outing. He emceed several Hoban Hall of Fame banquets and also was inducted in the CYO Hall of Honor.

Aside from his family, his greatest accomplishment was his ability to overcome an alcohol addiction and to stand by that life change for over twenty-five years. This firm willpower and commitment set an example for his family and all of us who battle obstacles in any form.

We'll miss his long stories, his curiosity, his phone calls, his sarcasm and humor, his knowledge and appreciation of the Arizona geology and terrain, and his love.

Tim was preceded in death by his parents, Robert
M. and Marie T. (Ginn) Griffith. He leaves behind his wife, Patricia
of Gold Canyon, Arizona; his three sons T.K. (Amy), Shaun (Kippi)
and Kevin; grandchildren Allie, Austin, Abby, Andrew, Audrey and Jack; brothers Robert and Dennis (Anne); sisters Sue (Bill) Koch, Beth (Dana) Ball, Lisa (Pat) Fahey; his mother-in-law, Ruth Stemple and sisters-in-law, Linda (David) Doll and Barb
Stemple, as well as many nieces, nephews and cousins and many close friends in the greater Akron, Battle Creek, and Gold Canyon areas.

Calling hours will be Sunday from 2 – 6 p.m. at Newcomer Funeral Home, 131 N. Canton Rd., Akron. Funeral Mass will be 10:00 a.m. Monday at Holy Family Catholic Church in Stow with prayers at the funeral home at 9:15 a.m. Interment will follow at Holy Cross Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in Tim's memory to Archbishop Hoban High School Scholarship Fund, 1 Holy Cross Blvd., Akron OH 44306 or to CYO, 812 Biruta St., Akron OH 44307.
NEWCOMER FUNERAL HOME, 330-784-3334