The following was the obituary in the Grand Falls Advertiser, written by mom's very good friend, Laura Blackmore.

It is with the deepest regret and the most profound sadness that The Advertiser records the passing of Mrs. James Griffin. Mrs. Griffin, better known as Neala, passed away at the Central Newfoundland Hospital shortly after 4 p.m. on Thursday past, April 18th, as a result of a massive heart attack which she suffered at her home on Cabot Road on April 6th. She was 59. (Sixty-one actually).

Neala Griffin was so intrinsically a part of the life, particularly the cultural life of Grand Falls for so many years that it is difficult to realize that she has gone.

Born in Grand Falls, the eldest daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Jackman, Neala most of her life in her hometown, apart from a few years in New York, where she studied and worked prior to her marriage in 1934 to James Griffin, also of Grand Falls.

She was educated at Notre Dame Academy, where she taught following graduation. Neala Griffin was a very talented person and early showed a special affinity for the arts, particularly the performing arts. She was a lifelong member of the Roman Catholic choir, of which she later was director up until three years ago when the church liturgy underwent a change.

It is difficult to enumerate the many and varied activities which Neala undertook and successfully carried through during her busy and very worthwhile life. She is perhaps most closely associated with and will be most remembered for her work in the musical and theatrical fields.

As director of the Killearnan Glee Club she and her group of mixed singers (soprano, also, tenor, bass) became well known and highly acclaimed across the land, in Festivals and on radio.

As director and president of the Northcliff Drama Club, which she, aided and abetted by a couple of other kindred souls, founded in 1950, she and her club won many top honours and awards during the fifteen years she was at the helm.

Three years ago she gave up active participation in the drama club as her appointment to the arts and drama department of Memorial University Extension called for a wider scope for her many talents and her vast and varied experience.

As Field Director of the MUN Extension Department, Mrs. Griffin travelled widely in Central Newfoundland. She brought to her glee clubs in Buchans, Springdale and Lewisporte the same enthusiasm, the same devotion, the same undoubted talents and the same remarkable personality that caused her to be recognized, far and wide, as one of Newfoundland's most outstanding and most successful choral and drama directors.

The list of Neala's dramatic and musical successes is legion, going back to the Killearnana's "Barbarossa of Barberry" and ending with her last and most spectacular success, "My Fair Lady", by the Northcliff Drama Club. In between the drama club won seven festivals and innumerable other awards including the Best Director's Cup which Neala won seven times.

Her work with the Extension Glee Clubs was equally outstanding, and at the time of her unexpected passing, she was putting the finishing touches to a choral concert in Springdale and to a revival of Barborossa of Barberry in Lewisporte.

In addition to the choral and dramatic work in the Extension Department, she also was responsible for the organization of Extension studies and classes at the Grand Falls Vocational School at Gander.

In Neala's life there was never a dully moment, and rarely an idle one. She was also an active member of her church, being a lifelong worked with the League of the Sacred Heart and the Altar Society, and for years headed up the St. Patrick's Players producing a show each March 17th.

But it was not her undeniable gifts and talents, great and may though they were, that made Neala Griffin the remarkable and unforgettable person that she was. It was her essential kindness, her unselfish devotion to any task she took in hand, her deep-rooted loyalty to her friends (and they were legion), her never-failing enthusiasms and her truly phenomenal personality, that made Neala the most charming and most lovable person I have ever known. She was utterly incapable of unkindness, in word or in deed, either towards or about another, and this is rare indeed, in any age at any age. This was perhaps Neala's most remarkable characteristic and in its quiet way, was a true mark of greatness.

Her first love was of course her family and to them she gave complete and unselfish devotion. To her husband Jim, to Laurie Ann her only daughter, Associate Supt of Nursing at the Central Nfld. Hospital, and to her only son, Arthur, teaching at Brother Rice High school in St. John's, the heartfelt sympathy of the whole community and area goes out.

Also left to mourn their loss is one sister, Connie, Mrs. S. Allen, Montreal, five brothers, Arthur and Lawrence in Grand Falls, Ronald in Toronto, Terrence in New Jersey U.S.A., and Howard in Vancouver. Another sister, Loll, Mrs. Thos Conway, passed away suddenly in Churchill Falls, Labrador, in December last.

The funeral took place on Saturday past at 2 p.m. following Requiem High Mass in the Cathedral and was very largely attended by members of Church and State, by representatives of the many fields of Mrs. Griffin's endeavours and by her sorrowing friends. But Neala's was not a spirit to be quenched by death. She will live on in the hearts of her friends, as long as they live, and the results of the work she did will continue long after her name is all but forgotten. Laura

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This is the tribute Carol wrote to her grandmother and delivered at her 100th birthday celebration.

Amelia May Frampton Hewitt
Woman of God - Woman of Family - Woman of Newfoundland

"Tall are the tales that fisherman tell..." Well, imagine the tales packed into the mind of this remarkable woman after 100 years of experience as an officer travelling the seas and coasts of Newfoundland, as a officer working with "street girls" in downtown St. John's, as a mother raising two children in homes and quarters all over this islands, as a wife moving through the island as "musical missionaries/spiritual specialists" both entertaining and serving the needs of Christians of all denominations. And this remarkable woman still tell tales, still, with a sharp clear mind that I wouldn't mind having, recount those experiences with a warmth and compassion that belies that 100 years of hardships witnessed, or lending a spiritual, compassionate hand through personal tragedy, and of watching this island evolve and shape itself. She was very much part of this evolution and very much a part of this shaping.

Nanny can tell you tales of a hat bouncing out of her hand when the earthquake struck the South Coast; of conducting a service when the crew of a ship, missing for 50 days, walked into the service which subsequently lasted most of the night, all other congregations for the community joining in; of turning around tough, "incorrigible" street girls who even to this day call her to thank her for her positive influence. Nanny once found herself with a few spare minutes when she and Poppy were on furlough in the United States. She took 20 War Crys and went into an office building to sell them. She left with$75.00, a substantial sum then. This was, perhaps, as much a tribute to her verve and energy as it was to her youthful beauty and innocence.

Nanny was born August 21, 1896. When she celebrates her 104th birthday in four years, she will have lived in three different centuries. At the age of 8 she saw her first Salvation Army officer, a beautiful young woman in an attractive uniform. She wanted her mother to make her a beautiful blue suit with trimmings like that. But it wasn't this attraction to a uniform and a nice smile that made her commit her life to God with the next 10 years. She joined the Army when Grand Falls Corps opened in 1909. She was one of the first to respond to the altar-call, and had nothing to bring, "only herself." She told the story: "I was coming home from school, and I stopped at a brook. There was a large tree limb stuck in the river and the force of the water kept rushing past it. I said to myself, if that tree is turned by the water, I'll turn myself over to God for full-time service.' She paused. Then, with a look of radiant satisfaction, she said, 'The tree turned.'" As an officer candidate she quickly got her teaching certificate, and was just as quickly promoted and sent to Dildo to teach. Her teaching career spanned 13 years, including a time at Livingstone Street in St. John's. Her first meeting with Brigadier Joseph Hewitt was rather strange, but not out of character for Poppy. Nanny was having a passport picture taken for a visit to her parents in Canada. There was only one other person there, a young man. He was having photos taken because he was a candidate for officership. He said to her, "Lady, would you like to have your picture taken with me?" She bravely stood next to this stranger and the picture was taken. Eleven years later she carried her wedding cake with her on the ferry from Port Aux Basques to Sydney, back from another visit with her family to marry Poppy - walking down the aisle carrying a bouquet of flowers instead of the traditional white bible. Twenty five years later Poppy remember that picture, went to the photographer to see if the negative was still in existence, and subsequently had the picture enlarged and framed and presented it to Nanny on their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. Today would be their seventy-fifth wedding anniversary. She gave her husband back to God as God had given him to her.

My memories of Nanny span only 40 years. Imagine - ONLY 40 years. Her time as a young teacher, a corps officer, a spiritual specialist and correctional officer were over when I came to St. John's in 1966. I knew her as the patient, surprisingly tolerant and progressive grandparent who willingly adapted to the times, and in so many ways was ahead of her time. She was famous among her grandchildren and great grandchildren for folding a two dollar bill and slipping it to them. How many two dollar bills did she give away I wonder? She'd have a little trouble folding them today, but I'm sure she has adapted to that as she had to everything else. My husband and I did our "courting" out of her kitchen, and she treated me with respect and and allowed me the freedom of a responsible young woman. I'm pretty sure her confidence wasn't misdirected. She was, is, a remarkable grandmother.

This woman of Newfoundland server in Wesleyville, Corner Brook, Grand Falls, St. John's, Grand Bank, Bell Island, Carbonear, Humbermouth and as a spiritual specialist traveled to every nook and cranny in this island. This woman of God committed her life to her lord at the age of 17. This wife, mother, grandmother, loved her family and raised them to secure independence and love of a Christian environment. "What gives beauty and meaning to life is our capacity to give to others, our ability to experience joy and to share it with those around us."

Amelia Frampton Hewitt has had a life of remarkable beauty and meaning.

Thank you Nanny from all of us.

Carol
 

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