Jill Ellen Griffin Stover

Jill Ellen Griffin Stover from Keene Valley, NY, died peacefully on May 26, 2017, in her beloved home town of Port Lavaca, Texas surrounded by her family. She was the daughter of Dr. John Wallace Griffin and Marian Ellen McCutcheon Griffin and was born in Houston, Texas on August 19, 1958. She attended public schools in Port Lavaca, Texas, and lived in Venezuela for a year after graduating Calhoun High School. She received her Bachelor’s Degree from Austin College in Sherman, Texas in 1980, and attended graduate school in Fine Arts at the University of Colorado in Boulder, where she met her future husband, Lanse Stover of Poughkeepsie, NY. They were married in 1983 in Port Lavaca, then moved to Massachusetts where Jill received her Masters in Education from Boston University. They raised two daughters in Beverly, Massachusetts, and Jill wrote, illustrated and published her first children’s books, “Alamo Across Texas” and “Popsicle Pony” (set in Port Lavaca). She became a hugely popular workshop presenter in local schools, where her innate ability to bond with children introduced them to her stories and the exotic state of Texas. She took up knitting in her middle years, and owned and operated a yarn shop for ten years,

She was preceded in death by her father, Dr. John Wallace Griffin. She is survived by her husband of 33 years Lanse Stover, daughters Anna Ellen Stover of Poughkeepsie, NY and Clare Griffin Stover of Chicago, IL., mother Marian Ellen McCutcheon Griffin, siblings John Griffin, Jr. (Lynn Knaupp), Jeannine Griffin (Paul Bunnell), and David Griffin (Lisa Griffin), and extended family Abbas Shahdadi and Lesley Clark.

Jill’s family, numerous nieces and nephews, and innumerable friends have been graced by her indomitable spirit and love of life. Jill embraced new experiences with joy, and her delight in the richness of the world was infectious and disarming to everyone she met. She was an accomplished artist and writer, builder of cairns, prodigious knitter, lover of birds and the Adirondack Mountains and crossword puzzles, voracious traveler, extraordinary friend. Close to her heart was the Obras Sociales del Santo Hermano Pedro, a long-term care facility for handicapped persons in Antigua, Guatemala. She spent at least two weeks a year for the past ten years volunteering there, and formed deep friendships with the residents. Jill also leaves behind her beloved adopted Lopez-Zamora family in San Antonio Aguas Calientes, Guatemala.

A memorial service will be held at Richardson Colonial funeral home in Port Lavaca from 5-6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 30, 2017. In lieu of flowers, a donation may be made to the American Diabetes Association in memory of Jill.