Violet was born in Loma, Colorado February 7, 1919 to Robert and Gertrude Grimes and was the youngest of four children. The family moved to Payette, Idaho in 1925.Her parents farmed and she grew up knowing all about hard work and perseverance. She honed her cooking skills at an early age working with her mother to prepare meals from scratch for her brothers and farm hands. She spent the next 88 years enjoying her life in Payette.
She attended a small country school until she started high school and found the move to town to be quite overwhelming at first. She quickly acclimated and made lifelong friends and then went on to graduate from Payette High School in 1937
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After graduating from high school, she moved to town and worked as a waitress, where she met Edsel Griffin. They later married on April 6, 1941. They spent the first 15 years of their marriage living on the Biven’s Ranch, where Edsel was employed.
Violet and Edsel had two sons, Dennis born in 1943 and Tom in 1945. After Edsel left the ranch, the family moved to town where she co-managed the hot lunch program for the Payette High School System from 1955 through 1959. She then had a long career with First Security Bank from 1959 through 1984 from which she retired. Upon retirement, they traveled throughout the U.S.
She and Edsel were married for 53 years until he passed in 1994. After his death, she remained very active. She was a loyal member of The Church of the Brethren most of her life and then joined the First Baptist Church where she was active member for past 30 years. She participated in a number of other activities, including her involvement in the Seniors Citizens Organization, a Pinochle group, and the SOLO group. She always said she had to keep active whether she felt like it or not even driving at 94.
Violet enjoyed a relatively healthy life. Her constant positive attitude and happy spirit inspired everyone around her. In 2013, she decided she needed to be near her family and moved to Boise to live with Tom and his wife Debbie until she turned 97. She then was moved to the Life Care Center in Boise. The family is grateful for the kind and caring way she was taken care of there.
She is survived by her sons Dennis (Joni) of Gig Harbor, WA and Tom (Debbie) of Boise ID along with seven grandchildren and seven great grandchildren. Violet was preceded in death by her husband Edsel, her parents, Robert and Gertrude and three brothers Chet, Lee, and Leonard.
