Robert E. Griffith

Robert Edward Griffith was a caring and complex man. He held strongly to his ideals, was artistic, athletic, intellectual, all the while also being fun-loving. Throughout his life he had many friends and people who loved him deeply.

Robert was born on November 14, 1924 in Oakland, California and grew up in Castro Valley and Hayward, California. His parents were William and Nellie Griffith. He was their second son, having an older brother, also named William. He had a peaceful and sometimes mischievous childhood. Together with his brother they roamed the dirt roads that once was Hayward, played tennis and basketball, and ran track. Robert always loved the outdoors. His family often spent many, many hours on the road in slow Model A cars to travel to Yosemite National Park. He had a beloved German Shepard named Jack. He and his brother also raised carrier pigeons. As he grew into a young adult, Robert became fascinated with making movies. He even conscripted his older brother to make a funny tennis movie. One time during a high school basketball game, he nearly caused a riot when he took an opposing player's dirty play into his own hands- literally. His sense of justice could not be held in check. During his youth he made life-long friends including Ken and Gunda Arfsten, Jean and Mary Canine, Eli Setenich - who worked at the Sacramento Bee, and others.

Then came the war. World War II that is. Robert found a way to join when he was just barely of age. He let college wait until later and joined the Merchant Marines. He trained at the Academy at King's Point and became an officer. He enjoyed his time at sea for the adventure and travel, but also because it afforded him time to read. He devoured books of many different subjects from classic literature to astronomy. The latter of which carried his interest throughout his life. When he finished his time in the Merchant Marines he had been in a war, traveled the world, and finished his Engineering Degree.

Before going on to more schooling, he would go back to Yosemite. Throughout his life he would return to Yosemite when he could. He and his four children have fond memories of their trips to Yosemite with him. He then spent some time at Donner Summit to ski. Here he met a good friend Dick Buek, with whom he would live and ski race. This was a fun time in Robert's life.

It was now time to attend U.C. Berkeley. as a “normal” college student. Here he ran track where he used his cunning as much as his abilities. Together with his coach they devised a plan where he would run the mile race as fast as he could for 3 laps. After each lap his coach would yell out, “Pick up the pace, you are going too slow,” All this just to play with his opponents psyches. One time it worked so well, he actually won the race!

After college finally came work. Robert worked as an Engineer for over 50 years. His first job was for P.G. and E. in San Francisco, but his work then took him to many countries around the world including Iraq, Turkey, Taiwan, Brazil, Bangladesh and more. As an engineer he built, or designed, or cost estimated the building of dams. In Brazil he worked on the Itaipu dam, which at that time was the largest hydroelectric dam in the world. But over the years, his work varied too from housing complexes in Colorado to Light Rail Systems in Los Angeles, Seattle, and Dallas. He enjoyed his work and did not completely retire until he as 80 years old.

Robert met and married Hildegard Weiss in Austria in the early 1960s. Together they had four children: Mike Otto born in Austria, Ann Karina born in Colorado, and twins Stephen Alexander and Mark Alan born in Taiwan. When his children were young, he told them stories of the “Rubber Man” who was a detective and could change his form into objects in order to track and capture the bad guys. When his children were older, he told them stories of a universe with worm holes and time that could bend. And all throughout he told them jokes, “I got a million of 'em.”

Then one day in April into his life came Elisa Emilia Gomes de Souza. She was tall and tan and young and lovely and the girl not from Ipanema, but Copacabana. They fell very much in love and married on October 13, 1978. They spent over 33 years happily together working and traveling the world. They were very dedicated to each other. Their “babies” are two long-living and much loved cats: Skipper and Hyper. Together they took care of each other and all made each other happy.

In 1983 he moved to Colorado with his 2 sons, Stephen and Mark, who were still in high school. The three of them enjoyed Colorado, and had fun doing various activities, including cooking dinner, skiing, and playing golf.

Robert enjoyed many sports and many hobbies. Besides skiing, he loved hydroplane racing, golf and tennis. He played tennis until his early 80s and often beat players much younger than himself – including his children. He also liked weight lifting and running. When he was 57 years old he was lifting 127lbs and raced in a 10K in Dacca, Bangladesh where he came in first place for his age group. He also loved driving fancy and fast cars - like Ferraris, watching horse races, and above all flying and working on his airplanes. He loved reading books about physics and the universe, especially ones written by Stephen Hawking and Einstein. He also like other genres by authors such as Lee Child, Sydney Sheldon, Sue Grafton, J Patterson. He enjoyed watching movies. Among his favorites were Casa Blanca, Vertigo, and It's a Wonderful Life, which was “mandatory” to watch with the kids every Christmas when they arrived He also enjoyed the Coyote & Road Runner cartoon; which always made him laugh.. He enjoyed his paintings very much, and was especially proud of the oil portrait he painted of Elisa in 1977.

Robert Griffith left us on April 21, 2011. He passed away in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was 86 years old. He is survived by his wife, Elisa, and his four children, Mike, Ann, Stephen, and Mark.

Robert meant many things to many people. He brought much joy and always tried to be the best man he could. He put his thoughts about his life into an Autobiography titled, “It's Not a Wonderful Life”, but for us who miss and love him – it was.

Arrangements under the direction of Palm Cheyenne Mortuary, Las Vegas, NV.