Ellen Greer Griffin, 87, a member of state and regional garden clubs since 1936 who was elected president of the National Council of State Garden Clubs in 1987, died Tuesday, Feb. 19, of heart disease in Carol Woods Retirement Community in Chapel Hill, N.C. Mrs. Griffin graduated from Florida State University, formerly Florida College for Women, in 1937 with a major in education. She married Carroll Owen Griffin in 1938 and taught kindergarten in Jacksonville for about a year before leaving to start a family. Friends over the years often remarked on what a team Mrs. Griffin and her husband were, said her daughter, Carolyn Cusic. The couple lived in Jacksonville Beach, Fla., where they owned an old Victorian hotel on the ocean. “All through World War II, we ran this hotel,” her daughter said. “It was built in the 1800s, a frame building, two-story, with porches all around, and it was a nightmare to maintain.” In the early 1950s, the couple built a more modern hotel that they ran until 1965, when they moved to Orlando. “It was before Disney decided to come, and it was a sleepy little town that they both really liked,” her daughter recalled. Through Mrs. Griffin’s activities with the garden club, she had the opportunity to travel to every state, making many friends throughout the country, including last May at a national convention in Chicago. “She was Irish, with red hair, a big smile and sparkling blue eyes, and she was one of the most positive-thinking people I ever met,” her daughter said. After the death of her husband, Mrs. Griffin moved to Chapel Hill, N.C., in 1995. Additional survivors include two grandchildren, Candice Cusic, a photographer at the Chicago Tribune, and Kim Cusic. A memorial celebration will be held Friday in Chapel Hill.
