[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 203 (Monday, December 18, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2373]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO EARNEST GRIFFIN

                                 ______


                           HON. BOBBY L. RUSH

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, December 18, 1995

  Mr. RUSH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Mr. Earnest Griffin, a 
pioneer in the mortuary business, who passed away this week at the age 
of 83. Mr. Griffin was 1 of only 6 licensed practicing morticians with 
over 60 years of experience. Since his graduating from the Worsham 
College of Mortuary Science in 1934, Mr. Griffin has conducted the 
final rites of such noted figures as the Hon. Elijah Muhammad and 
Olympian Jesse Owens. Mr. Griffin also gained the honor of being the 
first African-American invited to join the International Federation 
Thantologist Association, a funeral directors association.
  Mr. Griffin was also an avid pursuant of the events that surrounded 
the Civil War. So much so to this fact, he erected a wall honoring his 
grandfather, a Civil War veteran, at Civil War Camp Douglas. He had 
written extensively on preserving the history of the Civil War.
  Mr. Griffin loved his community, and in living he tried diligently to 
show that. He served on the board of directors for Lakeside Bank for 
over 20 years. Mr. Griffin was also awarded the Community Service Award 
from Illinois Institute of Technology and he also added to the beauty 
of his community by having his architecturally distinctive Griffin 
Funeral Home building built in his own neighborhood.
  Mr. Griffin was a caring family man, as well, as can be attested to 
by his wife Alyce and his two daughters Ethel and Pearl.
  Mr. Speaker, Mr. Earnest Griffin was a loved and respected man within 
his home and within his community. He spent his life serving the needs 
of others, It is not often that we are honored to know such a man. I 
have been blessed to have had the opportunity to have known him. I am 
proud to enter these words of remembrance into the Record.

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