Delbert E. Griffith East Wenatchee, Washington Obituary

Delbert E. Griffith

Delbert Elmer Griffith, 104 years old, strode into the arms of his Lord at 4:52 PM on May 10th 2022. If you knew Del, you knew how to work. Whether it was accruing firewood or hauling drinking water from the spring in old milk cans, Delbert got things done and you had to hustle to keep up. We rejoice with him as Del is surely organizing the loved ones who proceeded him, and any saint spotted loitering into an efficient work crew.<br><br>Del was born on April 22, 1918 in Sandpoint, Idaho. What was Del’s work? Everything! Del did cowboy work, dug potatoes, was caretaker for a herd of 100 pigs on an island in the middle of the Okanogan River, worked in the CCC camps, and ran his own business as a milkman (he would even pick up your prescriptions and deliver your library books). Upon retiring, he founded Camas Meadows Bible Camp with his wife Autumn in 1973 and was busy up to the day that he left us to receive his reward. <br><br>Delbert married Autumn Maurita Harmon on July 25th 1942. They had four children (Terry, Sharon, Clint, and Greg), eleven grandchildren, twenty great grandchildren, and five great-great grandchildren. While Autumn fed all who visited, Del was busy talking them into “one more quick job,” before they left. <br><br>Del enjoyed hunting, fishing, and watching wildlife from the log home he and Autumn built. Don’t worry, he didn’t skin all those logs himself. Del got help from everyone who happened to stop by. Their home and the camp they founded were built by many hands. Who got those hands working in the first place? Yep, it was Del. <br><br>Delbert loved visitors and saw a constant stream of people right up to his final day. He had so many wild stories to tell. That time he and his brother played “coyote and hunter” with a real slingshot, when he visited a man from Russia who lived in a hollowed-out cedar stump and ate off of fine china, how he and a friend’s version of “target practice” was shooting playing cards out of each other’s hands, the prank he called a “hot foot” where he put a match between a sleeping friend’s toes and lit it, when his horse stole a chainsaw, the time he was throwing hatchets at a muzzleloader convention and split the handle of another guy’s hatchet to get his own bullseye, how he turned an elk wallow into a beautiful pond using bulldozers and excavators borrowed from all the friends he talked into working on the project. Del never did a job halfway. When asked to write a couple of things down for the family memory book, Del proceeded to pen over 1,000 handwritten pages that became his book. Back Then ...: Del Griffith: 1918 and Beyond.<br><br>He was proceeded in death by his parents George and Rosa Griffith, his brothers Orville, Howard, Stanley, and Jack, his sister June, Autumn his wife of 75+ years, and his sons Terry and Greg. He leaves behind his daughter Sharon Sines, and son Clint Griffith along with all those grand, great grand, and great-great grandchildren.<br><br>A Funeral Service will be held Friday, May 20th, 10:00 am, at Grace City Church Chapel, 279 Melody Lane, Wenatchee. Burial will follow at Evergreen Cemetery in East Wenatchee. The family will greet friends and relatives at Camas Meadows Bible Camp at 2:00 PM that afternoon.<br><br>In lieu of flowers the family requests memorial donations be made to Camas Meadows Bible Camp, P.O. Box 304 Cashmere, WA 98815. <br><br>https://www.camasmeadows.org/donate<br><br>Arrangements by Chapel of the Valley, East Wenatchee. <br>
April 22, 1918 - May 10, 202204/22/191805/10/2022
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gregandrolana@gmail.com
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gregandrolana@gmail.com
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gregandrolana@gmail.com
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scruffy@camasmeadows.org
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scruffy@camasmeadows.org
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scruffy@camasmeadows.org
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