Dr. Frederick Edward Alfred Griffiths

He was a graduate of Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute. In 1954 he graduated from the University of Toronto Medical School and was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor society and was a member of Nu Sigma Nu fraternity. Fred began his medical career in Barrie, Canada, as a family practitioner. In 1955 he bought a rural practice in Minden, Ontario serving as the solo physician in the county; he also served the community as the Coroner and Chief Medical Officer of Health. In 1970 he opened a practice in Victoria Park, Toronto, prior to immigrating to Houston, TX in 1974, retiring in 1992. In 2001 he established House Call Doctors, retiring a second time in 2009. Fred was a life member of the Canadian and American Academy of Family Physicians and a member of the Texas and Harris and Travis County Medical Associations. Fred had an innate compassion for mankind and their suffering, integrity and gentleness, as well as a love of nature and family.

He is survived by his beloved wife of 59 years, Libby Griffiths; his daughter, Susan Spalding; daughter and son-in-law, Anne and Graham Clydesdale; daughter and son-in-law, Julia and Greg Jung; and his grandchildren, Alicia and Paula Spalding, Nick, Andy and Emily Karasek, Glenna and Ross Askey.

Fred had a passion for learning and obtained his pilot license for both floats and wheel aircraft; he held a captain’s license for 600 ton vessel; he was a member of the American and Canadian power squadron and a member of Lakewood Yacht Club, Clear Lake. Fred had an adventurous spirit and he and Libby traveled the globe with memorable trips captaining his 65 foot motor sailer, The Virginia Wheel, across the Gulf of Mexico (7 times) and throughout the Caribbean, close to his heart were Australia and Russia.

An entrepreneur at heart, Fred owned and ran a line of five and dime stores and Jimmy Walkers seafood restaurant in Kemah, TX. He was a keen Texas hold’em player and loved nothing less than a competitive game either in Vegas or on-line.

A Celebration of Life will be held at 1:00 p.m., Tuesday, July 20, 2010 at Cook-Walden/Forest Oaks Funeral Home.

In lieu of flowers, a donation can be made in Fred's memory to The Champions of Literacy Program. P.O. Box 41567, Austin, TX 78704, (512) 320-4505, www.willread.org. or to the Research and Education Foundation of the College of Family Physicians of Canada, 2630 Skymark Avenue, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada L4 5A4.