Mildred Griffin

Mildred Griffin

Augusta, GA- Mildred J. Griffin, wife of the late Command Sergeant Major, Carroll J. “Jack” Griffin, passed away peacefully September 11, 2017, at Lake Crossing Nursing Center following a long and gallant battle with Dementia, she was 87.

Raised in South Georgia near Valdosta, Mildred and CSM Griffin were married in 1951 while he was on leave from his post with the 26th Division in Berlin. Mildred became the consummate military wife, joining her husband in Germany and then settling outside of Ft. Benning in Columbus, Georgia, with assignments that took them to Ft. Bragg, North Carolina; Wurzburg, Germany; and Ft. Riley, Kansas, over almost twenty five years of military service.

While CSM Griffin assumed his leadership role as Division Command Sergeant Major of the Army’s First Division during the Vietnam War where he would be awarded 8 medals, Mildred was one of the many wives who joined Julia Moore in forming “The Waiting Wives” at Ft. Benning in 1965. The Waiting Wives at Ft. Benning were credited in changing the death notification process of the military to require death notifications be given in person by two officers within four hours of the death of a service member, following the telegram notification of the death of Sgt. Jack Gell the first casualty from Ft. Benning in the Vietnam War in 1965. Those efforts were documented in the 2002 movie “We Were Soldiers” directed and starring Mel Gibson that followed Julia and her husband then Col. Hal Moore and the efforts of the Waiting Wives at Ft. Benning in those initial days of the Vietnam War. In the fall of 1966, Mildred led an effort to fly American flags to show support for service members serving in Vietnam after she only counted eight (8) flags flying in the sprawling Oakland Park neighborhood they lived in that was made up predominately of Army families. What started in just her neighborhood, grew to the City of Columbus, and then to all of Georgia after the Attorney General of Georgia allowed the Waiting Wives to sell flags at all Georgia Polling Precincts at the General Election in November 1966 to raise money for the families of fallen soldiers. When the Griffin’s were transferred to Ft. Riley, Kansas in 1969, Mildred set up the Waiting Wives there and for her efforts there and at Ft. Benning was named the Army Wife of the Year in 1969.

After CSM Griffin returned to Ft. Benning and retired in 1971, the family transferred to Augusta, then Macon, before returning to Augusta for good in 1986. In addition to her efforts as an Army wife, Mildred served in various roles with both the PTA and Boosters Clubs at James B. Key Elementary in Columbus, Baker High School in Columbus, Westside High School in Augusta, and Southwest High School in Macon where she was the Macon-Bibb County Parent of the Year in 1982. She was employed by A-1 Answerphone and was an active member of her beloved Sunday school class at Abilene Baptist Church in Martinez, who for the last 24 years of her life following the death of her husband became her extended family.

Mildred was preceded in death by her parents Ed and Julia Odom, her brother Bobby Odom, as well as her husband of 41 years Jack. She is survived by her sister Polly Griner, brother Sonny Odom (wife Betty Fay), brother Wesley Odom, and her three sons Carroll J. Griffin, Jr. “Rusty” (wife Julie) of Augusta; Stephen O. Griffin “Steve” (wife Sheila) of Evans; and, Randall E. Griffin “Randy” (wife Laurie) as well as six grandchildren, one great grandchild, and numerous nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be held Thursday, September 14, 2017 at 2:00 p.m. in the Chapel of Thomas Poteet & Son with the Reverend Terry Doss Officiating. Burial will be at Westover Memorial Park in Augusta. The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service at the funeral home.

The family would like to thank the staff of Lake Crossing Nursing Home in Appling for their love and compassion over the past several months.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Fisher House www.fisherhouse.org to benefit the Fisher House at Ft. Gordon that aides military families who are facing severe injuries or illness.

Thomas Poteet & Son Funeral Directors, 214 Davis Rd., Augusta, GA 30907 (706) 364-8484. Please sign the guestbook at www.thomaspoteet.com