SJ160: Memorial resolution; Celebrating the life of Mignon Diane Griffin.
WHEREAS, Mignon Diane Griffin, a native of Farmville, was born January 19, 1952, and called to eternal rest on December 7, 2005; and
WHEREAS, Mignon Diane Griffin, daughter of famed civil rights pioneer, the late Reverend L. Francis Griffin, Sr., began her education in the racially segregated public schools of Prince Edward County at Mary E. Branch Elementary School; and
WHEREAS, although Mignon Diane Griffin began her education before the public schools were closed; after the student-led strike of deplorable education conditions for African-American students at Robert Russa Moton High School in 1951, Prince Edward County closed its public schools at the end of the spring term in May 1959 until September 2, 1964 to circumvent the 1954 United States Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954); and
WHEREAS, Mignon Diane Griffin's father, the late Reverend L. Francis Griffin, Sr., the spiritual and moral leader of African Americans in Farmville, who supported the student-led strike at Robert Russa Moton High School, filed suit in federal court on behalf of his youngest daughter, that the closing of the Prince Edward County public schools violated his daughter's constitutional rights under the Fourteenth Amendment; and
WHEREAS, the Prince Edward County Public Schools were not reopened until the United States Supreme Court ruled in Griffin v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, 377 U.S. 218 (1964), that "closing the Prince Edward County schools while public schools in all the other counties of Virginia were being maintained denied the petitioners and the class of Negro students they represent the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment"; and
WHEREAS, for a time after 1959, Mignon Diane Griffin, together with her siblings, was home-schooled by her mother, but was soon forced to leave the Commonwealth to continue her education in various other public school systems around the nation, eventually graduating from Palo Alto High School in California; and
WHEREAS, she attended Pitzer College in Claremont, California, and, while there, traveled with Crossroads Africa to Rongokamagambo, Kenya, where she worked with the indigenous people, learning about their culture and making concrete blocks to help build schools for local children; and
WHEREAS, she also traveled throughout Tanzania and Uganda before returning to the United States, and after the birth of her son, which she declared her "greatest moment of joy," Mignon Diane Griffin returned to Africa with her family and lived in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, for a few years before moving to Kingston, Jamaica, in 1975, where she worked at the prestigious law firm, Myers, Fletcher & Gordon; and
WHEREAS, in 1977, Mignon Diane Griffin again returned to the United States, living briefly in Farmville, then moving to Stamford, Connecticut, and to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1978, where she was employed for 10 years by WGBH Public Television for the show Frontline until leaving to become Assistant Director of the Harvard Business School Alumni Program; and
WHEREAS, while an employee of the Harvard Business School, despite many obstacles, she completed her bachelor's degree in 1998, graduating magna cum laude; and
WHEREAS, in 1999, Mignon Diane Griffin returned to Virginia, resided in Richmond where she joined the Richmond Free Press advertising staff before accepting a position with a Richmond advertising firm, and also worked as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for abused and neglected children in Chesterfield County; and
WHEREAS, she moved to Meherrin in 2002, and after being awarded a scholarship by the Brown v. Board of Education Scholarship Awards Committee in 2005, as one of the first scholarship recipients, she began her pursuit of a second bachelor's degree by enrolling at Longwood University to embark upon a new career as a kindergarten teacher; and
WHEREAS, Mignon Diane Griffin desired most in life to impact positively the lives of children, and she devoted much of her life to trying to make the world a safer and more joyous place for them; and
WHEREAS, Mignon Diane Griffin embodied and applied the values and principles that were instilled in her by her parents; she did not allow her adverse and regrettable early educational experiences in the Commonwealth to distort her character and personality; sanction a personal code of racial animus; embrace bitterness, retaliation, or an unforgiving spirit; or obstruct her vision for her future; and
WHEREAS, as an intelligent, soft-spoken, gentle, and remarkably beautiful woman, who desired to give her son "the world," Mignon Diane Griffin is remembered by family, friends, and loved ones as "an angel walking on earth"; and
WHEREAS, her family and friends cherish her memory and take comfort in knowing that, while here, she received great joy in serving and caring for others, especially children, but now her joy is complete; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That the General Assembly hereby note with great sadness the loss of Mignon Diane Griffin, known affectionately as "Micki" to her loved ones; and, be it
RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the Senate prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the family of Mignon Diane Griffin, native daughter and one of the Commonwealth's first recipients of the Brown v. Board of Education Scholarship award, as an expression of sympathy to her family and respect for her memory by the members of the General Assembly.
