Daniel T. Griffin III, ’62

griffin On July 31, 2016, Daniel Thomas Griffin III died peacefully and of natural causes. He was born on October 26, 1943, the son of Daniel T. and Eileen Griffin of Holyoke. He was raised on Morgan Street and went to St. Jerome School. At Williston Academy in Easthampton, MA, he played football, hockey and lacrosse. After graduating, he attended Boston University and played hockey and then transferred to American International College. After college, he joined the U.S. Army and served two tours of duty in Vietnam, attaining the rank of Sergeant. He worked in the family business, Central Package Store on Dwight St. in Holyoke and then at Commercial Distributing in Westfield, MA. He married Margaret Ballard and lived in South Hadley. For many years, he owned and operated Pink Swan Antiques on Cherry St. in Holyoke. After recovering from a serious illness in 2004, he moved to Cape Cod; and then in 2010 to Jay, OK to be close to his daughter and grandchildren. He was predeceased by his sister, Mary Maginnis. He is survived by his daughter, Lee Griffin of Aston, OK; grandchildren Ellen, Ethan, and Elise; his former wife Margaret; his brother Robert, and his nephew and niece, Frank and Eileen Maginnis.

6 thoughts on “Daniel T. Griffin III, ’62”

  1. Griff was president of our class. He fit in with every member of our class. Not easy. We both served on the student council. Rick Schreiber and I lived on Mem Dorm third as juniors and proctors. Griff and George Masters lived at the other end as proctors. Griff and I both played football, hockey, and lacrosse together. I can remember ….as sophomores in Mem Dorm…griff showing me how to hang a wet towel out your window on a really cold day. On a string. Drape it over a bottle of soda somebody had put on their window sill a floor below to cool. Let the towel freeze. And reel in the soda!!! Griff was the ultimate people person. I’m sure his picture is next to “extrovert” in the dictionary. Anyone in our class can still hear his voice. I know I can.

  2. By far one of the truly nicest guys at school when was there. Don’t think there was anyone who didn’t like Griff and don’t think there was a bag think in his body. The class of ’62 has lost a good friend. RIP Griff you will be missed.

  3. I am very sorry to hear of Griff’s passing. He was a great guy with an infectious sense of humor. I played football, hockey and lacrosse with him. He had the misfortune of being a proctor on the third floor of Ford Hall our senior year, but I don’t recall his turning anybody in for any rules violations. He was uniformly well liked. As Chuck said, I can hear his voice, particularly his laugh, fifty-four years later. My condolences to his family. He was one of the good ones.

  4. My condolences to Griff’s family. He was a great teammate of mine in football and lacrosse. I also recall double-dating with him once our senior year. Glad he was able to spend the last 6 years near his daughter and grandchildren. I am sure that meant a great deal to him.

  5. This past May I stayed with three of my college friends at our 50th reunion, two pairs of freshman roommates, Those bonds are special, Dan Griffin was my roommate for our first year at Williston. I drew a lucky card. Countless memories swirl in my mind but let me share one snapshot: we lived on the second floor of an old frame house above Ellis Baker, a teacher; given the building’s age the wood floors were uneven and at times we would roll a softball across the length of the room from one bed to the other to the consternation of Mr Baker and Dan’s favorite line was handicapping how long it would take him to rush up the stairs to order an end to our entertainment break. He had it down pretty good. We shared a lot at the start of our journey, the guy had a wonderful heart. I want to say to all Dan’s extended family: you had a great one, take comfort that he felt love for all of you, Godspeed to his soul. Recently I wrote an elegy to those of our age that served in Vietnam, hopefully this can be shared with the Williston community in memorandum to the best roommate a guy could have.

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