Joyful, passionate, creative and loving, with a strong assurance in the faithfulness of God, Glenna Griffith passed away peacefully on the morning of May 27th. After a truly long, long goodbye due to 11 years of Alzheimer’s disease, she is now completely free of her suffering. She was 72 years old.

Glenna breathed her last while sleeping, in the loving embrace of her high school sweetheart and devoted husband of nearly 49 years, Bill Griffith. He has been her full time, compassionate and loyal caregiver since Glenna’s illness required it so, for the past 7 years.

She is also survived by her sister Carolyn Day; six children: Ben (Jessica) Griffith, Ryan (Izzy) Griffith, Renae (Drew) Glantz, Marissa (Daniel) Curci, Denise (Nick) Griffith, and Chelsea Griffith; 13 grandchildren: Cai, Finn, Ari, Luke, Clayton, Eliza, Kathryn, Abigail, Madelyn, Cody, Holly, Xavier and Amy Grace. Glenna was a cheerful aunt, an encouraging friend, and a generous neighbor. Many of her children’s friends remember her as a “second mom”, who always welcomed them into her home.

Born and raised in Seattle to Glenn and Lonnie Lee, Glenna graduated from Ingraham High School in 1969. She met Bill in the Ingraham marching band at the young age of 15, and they went on to become best of friends and fell in love. They also played together in the Husky Marching Band at the University of Washington, where Glenna earned her bachelor’s degree of Science in Nursing, in 1973. She and Bill were married at St Luke’s Episcopal church in Seattle in August of 1974.

Glenna was a brave and compassionate nurse, who enjoyed her experiences in several different disciplines within various hospitals. She worked in Washington, Virginia, California, Texas, Arizona, and Oklahoma, reflecting the frequent moves of Bill’s Air Force career. Not surprisingly, her profession carried on when not officially at work, as friends frequently leaned on her advice for medical concerns. Somehow, Glenna was at the right places at the right times while not at work, to need to administer CPR to individuals on three different occasions who were on the verge of losing their life. For one of those occasions, she received a letter of commendation from the Chief of Police in Vacaville, California.

Glenna loved being a mom! She delivered the first four of their six kids on the different air force bases where they lived. Then, after moving back to the Puget Sound area and settling down on Vashon Island when Bill transitioned to the Air Force Reserves, they had two more daughters. Glenna was in “hog heaven” (a term she often used) whenever she had babies or little children around her.

Her love for children paired with her knack for inventing new rhymes and her fun sense of humor made her a fabulous Sunday school teacher and homeschooling mom. Smart and witty, her Christmas letters were always a big hit! She was always up to the task and absolutely loved to laugh, which many rememberwithdeepfondness. Her “happy heart”was foundational in her ability to homeschool and support youth activities of all kinds, especially violin lessons using the Suzuki method, which requires consistent parental involvement. Her daughters each have numerous stories from those experiences that reveal Glenna’s level of dedication; stories that now give them great encouragement in life. Her sons would share as many similar stories centered around sports, or chores around the house—the latter, though tinged with adversity in the moment, are now remembered with affection, and recognized as key elements of their own character development.

Though Glenna was unable to interact with her grandchildren with the same capacity as she did with her children due to the effects of her illness, her love for them was evident through to the end, as she’d always perk up to the sounds of their voices and their songs.

We will be celebrating her life with a memorial service at Bethel Evangelical Free Church located at 14736 Bethel Ln SW on Thursday, July 20th at 3pm.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to The Vashon Care Network, which provides medical equipment and coordination with community services , free of charge, to those in need on Vashon Island: vashoncarenetwork.org (Please specify in memory of Glenna) Mailing Address: Vashon Care Network; PO BOX 13135; Vashon, WA 98070