Marjorie Agatha Griffith

Link for Livestream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvrUizpglOQ

Marjorie was born on January 13, 1933 to Florence Campayne and Joseph Hentzen in Port Mourant, Berbice, Guyana. She spent her early years in Port Mourant with her mother but later moved to Georgetown, Guyana to go to school where she lived with her Aunt Sheeka and her Uncle Donald “DC” Wason whom she affectionately called Father. Although an only child, Marjorie always considered her Campayne cousins Louis (deceased), Hazel, Fred (deceased), Waveney, Berenice (deceased), Winston/Alma, and Joan her siblings as she spent many of her early summers with them.

After graduating from St Joseph Secondary School, Marjorie became a teacher at Christ Church Secondary School in Georgetown, Guyana before taking a position at Public Works, the governmental body responsible for maintaining Guyana’s infrastructure. It was during her time at Public Works that she first met John Conrad Griffith. After Public Works, she went to London to study Business and then returned to Guyana to work as a teacher at Bishops High School.

Conrad and Marjorie were friends for many years before they began dating, although as Conrad described it, everyone told him from the start “when he got serious, she would be the one.” After both traveling to England in 1965–her to work and him to study–Conrad and Marjorie married on February 26th,1966 at St. Gabriel Church in England. It was there that they had their first son Iain, before moving back to Guyana where they had their second son Marc, and daughters Marcia and Melissa. Upon returning from England, Marjorie balanced raising their young family, caring for her mother who had lost her sight, and juggling her career, first as a teacher at St. Rose's in Georgetown, Guyana and then as an executive assistant at CARICOM, an intergovernmental Caribbean organization.

In 1981, after her mother's passing a few years earlier, Marjorie, despite the sacrifice to her career and life in Guyana, encouraged Conrad to grasp a job advancement opportunity at the Caribbean Development Bank that would require the family to relocate to Grenada. From that point, and through many different countries in the Caribbean, she dedicated her life to taking care of her family and was the driving force behind many of the pivotal decisions in their lives. With her amazing cooking abilities, her quick and sometimes sarcastic wit, her love of people and her strong Catholic faith, Marjorie always created a welcoming home for all and so it was no surprise that her home was the place where many of her children's friends chose to gather.

Although she eventually lost her battle with Alzheimer’s, Marjorie fought for many years to be present with her family– her inimitable personality and staunch advocacy for her family remained intact to the end. She will be greatly missed and fondly remembered by her husband Conrad, children Iain (Michelle), Marc (Beverly), Marcia and Melissa, her grandchildren, Mya, Matthew and Ethan, her extended family, friends and the countless other lives she touched.

A visitation for Marjorie will be held Friday, November 11, 2022 from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM at Quinn Hopping Funeral Home, 145 East Mount Pleasant Ave, Livingston, NJ 07039. Following the visitation will be a funeral mass from 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM at St. Joseph's Church, 44 Benvenue Avenue, West Orange, NJ 07052.

In lieu of flowers or gifts, the family is asking that you make a donation to Alzheimer’s Association (www.alz.org) or the Dementia Society of America (www.dementiasociety.org) in her memory.

Link for Livestream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvrUizpglOQ