History of John Smith Griffin
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Alhambra - 1941

While we were in the Alhambra Ward I taught the Seventies class in addition to my other Church assignment: We had a rather dull group with poor attendance. I decided that I might be able to pep things up a bit so we planned a party to be held at our place.on a Saturday evening. We got all the refreshments ready and planned some games, etc. The time for the party arrived but no one had come. We-waited and waited, thinking that there might have been a misunderstanding as to the time. By ten p.m. we decided that no one was coming and so went to bed. The next day in priesthood meeting I mentioned that we had planned for a party but had no guests. They had all merely forgotten about the party and even the group leader did not show up. This was the first and only party we have ever given where the guests failed to appear.

LETTERS
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(L410110) John Griffin to Mother / Los Angeles, CA
(L410115) Dorothy Griffin to the Griffins / Alhambra, CA
(L410626) John Griffin to Mother / Yuma, AZ
(L410728) Dorothy Griffin to Maude / Alhambra, CA

Shortly after moving into the house in South Alhambra my brother Don came to live with us and to look for a job. He found a job and worked in South Pasadena until the summer of 1941 when the draft caught up with him and he went into the service at Fort Douglas, Utah. On or about September 1, 1941, he was married to Madge Fowles and they came down to California on their honeymoon. They stayed at our place and on September 2, we all decided to go down to the beach. While Don had been staying with us and working, we had frequently gone down to Long Beach on Saturday afternoons after work (we worked until 1 p.m. on Saturday in those days). Dot would meet me at work with a lunch and we would go down to the beach and spend the afternoon. We usually went to a place just south of the business section in Long Beach and had to walk down a long series of stairs to the beach. Don of course wanted to take Madge down to the spots where he had enjoyed the beach and so we went down to the familiar place on the second of September.

At that time Dot was carrying Paul and was a little more than seven months along. I was a little dubious about her walking up and down those stairs but she said that she felt fine and so away we went. Everything went off fine and we all seemed to enjoy ourselves. We have some motion pictures of that trip to the beach and of Don and Madge on their honeymoon. During the night of the second, some complications arose, and Dot knew by morning that the baby was coming soon. She did not say anything to me but called the doctor that afternoon. I was at work and so she called me to come home and take her to the hospital. I got her over the hospital about 5:30 p.m. About 6:30 Dr. Harold Marshall who was our doctor came down to the waiting room with a very solemn look on his face. He said "Mr. Griffin, you have another son. I do want you know though that we had a difficult time and that the baby has only a 50 percent chance of surviving." He told me that it had been a dry birth and that they had a very difficult time getting the baby to breathe. A Dr. Tarr assisted Dr. Marshall and I understand was primarily responsible for Paul's living. He worked over him without stopping for more more than a half-hour after he arrived to get him to breathe. Dr. Marshall suggested that I obtain the services of a pediatrician immediately. I did not know anyone and so at Dr. Marshall's suggestion I had him retain Dr. Gaston Bause..

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