Janie Frances Griffin

Her mother, Mabel Shaw Dawkins, came to Boston as a teenager to study music at the New England Conservatory of music where she studied violin. Her father, Charles M. Dawkins, worked for the government in the rail system. He eventually worked for Gulf Oil Company in Houston, Texas.

She was a descendent of Davy Crockett known for his heroics at the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas. She was also a descendent of Stephen Foster know for the song "Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair".

At the age of 5, the Dawkins family moved back to Houston, Texas.

In 1943, Janie and her mother, Mabel (known as "Munnie" to the family) traveled by train first to Los Angeles for a short stay, then they took the beautiful Daylight Limited from Los Angeles to San Francisco. After finding a place to live, Janie applied at the War Office as a messenger and telegraph operator. She was the youngest accepted as a civilian worker with the others being anywhere from 25 to 60 years old.

Letters from her mother Mabel, home to her father, Charles, reveal the life they lived in San Francisco during war time. In spite of the hardships and rations, it was the most exciting and memorable experience of her life. It was here she grew to know and develop a deep, abiding love for this grand city.

Eventually, Janie and her mother returned to Houston, Texas and Janie then started off for college. The war ended not long after and she eventually met and married Paul Monds Hague at college at Illinois State University.

Janie and Paul had seven children: William "Bill" Charles (dec. 1984), Frances Jane, Teresa Pauline "Terri", Margaret Ann "Maggie", Alan Eugene, Mabelle Juanita "Mae", and finally, Carol Elizabeth.

After a very stormy marriage, they were divorced in 1963 and thus began a life of great hardship and illness for Janie. The children were placed in care of Depelchin Faith Home in Houston, Texas and Janie admitted to a series of hospitals.

Things began to look up for Janie when she met Alvin Eugene Griffin. By this time, the four older children were out of school and on their own. The next two, Alan and Mabelle, were brought home to live with Janie and Alvin after having lived in various foster homes and finally on the campus of "The Home".

Carol was happily settled and stable in a foster home in Houston. She was never removed from the home at her own request but maintained a good relationship with the rest of the family.

Once Alan graduated from college and married, he accepted a position with Chevron Oil Company and moved to the San Francisco area. After being away some 40 plus years, Janie was able to visit the one place on earth she was the happiest. She was able to visit several times in the 1980's before Alan and his growing family returned to the Houston area.

Janie loved the San Francisco area with a passion. She was not able to return to her beloved city as a stroke in 1997 prevented any major travel. In 2003, after a series of strokes, Carol, the youngest was named Guardian. At that time, arrangements for Janie's final demise were pre-paid.

After many years of pain and suffering, yet still finding joy and peace through the comfort of accepting Jesus as her Savior, Janie passed on December 18, 2014.

When Alan and Carol met with the funeral home to make final arrangements, it was thought the U.S. Coast Guard in Galveston, Texas would be able to scatter her ashes in the Gulf of Mexico which is was had been discussed with Janie many years earlier. However, with changes that was no longer an option. She would have to be sent to another port such as New Orleans. As the director left Alan and Carol to confirm with the Coast Guard, Alan said "It would be neat if the Coast Guard of Boston or San Francisco could do it!" Carol say "Why not? If she has to be sent elsewhere, it should be a place she loved and I say San Francisco because there was no place she loved more!"

So, knowing this is the place Janie would most love to be, we are grateful to be able to send her on her final journey to the place she loved most.

Thank you on behalf of her children:

Frances

Terri

Maggie

Alan

Mae

Carol