Jolly Field Griggs; Ventura Business Teacher

Jolly Field Griggs, a retired business teacher, died of a heart attack Friday in Ventura. He was 85.

He was born Feb. 24, 1915, in Haileyville, Okla., where he grew up and attended school. He graduated from high school in McAlester, Okla.

Griggs married Charlene Mae Van Fleet in 1937.

He began teaching at Bethel County High School in Vinita, Okla.

During World War II he taught business and wrestling at the Oklahoma Military Academy in Claremore.

He received a master’s degree in business administration in 1949 from Oklahoma University, and the next year he moved his family to Ventura.

Griggs retired from Ventura College in January 1986 but was a substitute teacher for several more years. He spent 57 years as a business instructor in public schools.

He was an ordained deacon at Grace Baptist Church of Ventura, where he had been a member for 51 years. An advocate of creation science and the literal interpretation of the book of Genesis, he wrote letters to the editor of newspapers and politicians to forward his beliefs.

Griggs and his wife traveled extensively, visiting many nations, including Russia, China, Poland, England, Canada and Mexico.

He was an amateur photographer and computer enthusiast. In his later years, he took up golf and planting tomatoes.

In addition to his wife of 63 years, Griggs is survived by their sons Van of Vista and David of Las Vegas, Nev.; daughters Patricia Griggs-Steeno and Anita, both of Ventura; brothers James of Phoenix, Ariz., and Kenneth of Modesto; four grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.

Visitation will be today from 4 to 8 p.m. Funeral services are scheduled at 11 a.m. Friday at the Charles Carroll Funeral Home in Ventura. Rev. Cliff Howery of Grace Baptist Church and Griggs’ nephew, Dennis Griggs of Yorba Linda, will officiate the service. Interment will follow at Ivy Lawn Memorial Park in Ventura.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be sent to Grace Baptist Church at 65 S. MacMillan Ave., Ventura 93001.

Arrangements are under the direction of the Charles Carroll Funeral Home in Ventura.