Harry L. “Short” Griffiths, 90, of East Brady, Sugarcreek Twp., Armstrong Co., went to be with the Lord Tuesday morning, May 26, 2020 at Butler Memorial Hospital.
Harry was born in Frogtown, near Kaylor, on June 2, 1929. He was the son of the late Lester and L. Mae McElhaney Griffiths.
He attended public school in Kittanning. He was a lifetime member at St. Paul Community Church in Sugarcreek Twp., where he was baptized as an infant. He was a deacon and served on the church consistory. Short served on the church’s cemetery board and was the cemetery sexton for many years. He was a founding member of the Alamo Squares and a founding member of the Frogtown Wildlife Club. Short enjoyed traveling, driving his car to livestock auctions, farm shows, and meeting with his friends for breakfast. In his earlier years, Harry worked as a logger at Kissinger Mills and also in the area’s limestone and coal mines. He retired in 1992 from Witco in Petrolia following many years of service.
Harry was preceded in death by his wife, Doris I. Olcus Griffiths, whom he married at St. Paul’s Church on September 10, 1949. Mrs. Griffiths passed away August 12, 2013.
Surviving are three children, William Griffiths and his wife, Linda, Willis Griffiths and his wife, Kay, and Linda Guntrum and her husband, William, all of Chicora; seven grandchildren, Eric Griffiths and his wife, Sarah and Heather Powers, of Chicora, Melissa Mechling and her husband, Nathan, of Butler, Bradley Griffiths of Chicora, Theresa Davis and her husband, Joe, of Templeton, Alison Belles and her husband, Jimmy, of Shelocta, and Curtis Guntrum and his wife, Megan, of Chicora; eighteen great-grandchildren, Justin and Luke Davis, Kaiden and Cambree Powers, Katelyn Bronder, Matthew, Joshua, and Emily Griffiths, Brooklyn and Bria Belles, Micaiah Matson, Hannah, Ethan, Hilary, and Owen Mechling, and Callie, Mascen, and Cassius Guntrum; a sister-in-law, Marian McKenzie of Chicora, as well as a number of nieces, nephews, and cousins.
In addition to his parents and wife, Harry was preceded in death by a brother, Clyde W. Griffiths and a number of brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law.
Family and close friends will be received at the Hile Funeral Home of Chicora, 339 Chicora Fenelton Rd., Chicora, from 10 – 11:00 a.m. Friday. A funeral service will follow at 11:15 a.m. from the funeral home with the Rev. Samuel Swick, family friend and United Church of Christ pastor, officiating. Interment beside his wife will be in Oak Grove Cemetery, Sugarcreek Twp., Armstrong County. Condolences may be sent by visiting www.hilefh.com.