Marion E. "Pixie" Griffith
November 12, 1921 — October 26, 2006
Marion E. "Pixie" Griffith
Marion was born in Brooklyn, NY, daughter of Mary (Cloherty) Boccard and Maurice Henry Boccard. She was raised in a family with wide ranging talents and interests including the staid (accountants, librarians, advertising executives) and the artistic (vaudeville performers, musicians, dress designers).
Marion was justly proud of her service in the Coast Guard during World War II.She left her job at the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in New York City to enlist in the Navy when war was declared.However, such was the need for man (woman?) power that she was asked to transfer to the newly formed women's branch of the Coast Guard.She volunteered for a posting to Rockland, Maine in order to remain on the East Coast instead of being sent to California, so she could be near her mother while her two brothers were also away in the service. There, she served in Communications as a Morse Code radio operator, keeping watch on foreign submarine activity in the North Atlantic.
It was also there she met Frank Griffith, a Coast Guard yeoman from Somerville, who was serving on weather patrols in the North Atlantic and would eventually become her husband.After the war they settled in Somerville to raise their family.
Mrs. Griffith was a woman of many capabilities and excelled at the variety of interests she explored.She crafted Silver jewelry, sold Avon products, sewed beautifully, enjoyed writing, was an avid Golfer (with a memorable hole-in-one) and mastered the art of word processing in the era between electric typewriters and computers.
She thoroughly enjoyed driving and caring for a series of Nash Metropolitans that she and her husband restored and drove.In recent years, she treasured her records, tapes, CDs and DVDs of Old Favorites from the Big Band Era, especially Frank Sinatra, and new favorites including Daniel O'Donnell and Andre Rieu.
Although her son was a member of the Boston Globe Sports Department for 40 years, she had little interest in sports - until Tiger Woods came along.Then she became first a Tiger Woodsfan and later a golf fan, adding the TV broadcasts to her weekly routine.
She also took pride in being a nexus for a far-flung family that stretched from Ireland to France to Italy to Canada and throughout the United States.Just last month (September 22) she hosted a dinner for four of her cousins, including two who were making their first visit to the United States.
Marion will be remembered by her family and friends for her great sense of humor, her insatiable curiosity, her interest and knowledge, her sage advice and problem solving, and making you believe that everything would turn out for the best.
Marion was the beloved wife of the late Francis F. 'Frank' Griffith.Loving mother of William F. Griffith and his wife Stephanie of Newburyport, Mass., and the late Margaret A. Coombs and her husband Charles Coombs of Bourne, Mass.Sister of the late Maurice Boccard and the late Donald Boccard.Devoted Grandmother of Sandra Olearcek and husband Steve of Ellington, Conn., Sara Baiardo and husband Stefano of Milan, Italy, and John Griffith of Lynn, Mass.Also survived by sister-in-law Selma Boccard of Gaithersburg Md.;nieces and nephewBarbara Weiner, Debra Hein, Peggy Boccard, Dennis Boccard, Betsy Healey; and cousins Victor Boccard of Broomfield, Colo., Geneva Tetu of Claremont, N.H.,Jeanette Siciliano of Houston,and Mary O'Halloran, Patsy Coyne and Christina Lavelle of Inish Bofin, Co Galway, Ireland.
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