Mrs. Griffith died May 13, 2009, at the age of 88. She was born to Minuel and Ragnhild Egeland in Grand Forks, N.Dakota, on December 1920. Alice, the eldest daughter in a family of six children, grew up on the family homestead in Bygland Township, MN, helping in the operations of the farm, which required providing three square meals a day for a dozen hired hands during harvest times. Alice was proud of her 100 percent Norwegian heritage – she often spoke of her grandfather, Jens Egeland, who left Arendal, Norway, at age 12 in 1862, worked as a cabin boy and cook on a merchant ship sailing the “Seven Seas,” jumped ship in New Orleans, and made his way north up the Mississippi to sail the Great Lakes and then on to homestead at Bygland in 1877. She is preceded in death by her parents; her brother, Martin; and her husband, Norman. She is survived by her sisters, Lois Nystal and Esther Mae Doble; and brothers, Ernest and John Egeland.

Alice attended high school in East Grand Forks, MN, boarding with a family during the week and returning the nine miles to the family farm on weekends. After graduating as valedictorian, she became the first in her family to attend college, graduating with honors from Concordia College in Moorhead, MN, in 1941 with a Bachelor of Arts in home economics and German. That fall, she taught high school in Fairfax, MN, withdrawing just after one year to return home to assist her parents after the death of her older brother, Martin, who died in a flying accident on the family farm. She helped care for her brother, John Martin, who was born a few months after the accident. Later, she taught several years in Warren, MN and pursued a master’s degree at the University of Minnesota before applying to teach in Portland.

In 1949 she accepted a job teaching German, home economics and physical education at Washington High School in Portland. She taught for several years and during this time met Norman N. Griffith, a young attorney. They married on August 20, 1953.

Together they raised four sons who, with their families, brought them great joy: David, Stephen and Bobbi, Robert and Anna, and Mark and Judith. There are nine grandchildren: Ian, Matthew, Jessica, Jennifer, Jaclyn, Samuel, Daniel, James and Vesna. Norman and Alice were married for nearly 55 years. They enjoyed many family adventures and special celebrations together, traveling to the Oregon coast, the high desert and the Cascades. Alice had a special place as the matriarch of the family, with a flawless memory for birthdays, graduations and anniversaries, and a knack for sorting out the genealogy of the extended Griffth and Egeland clans. You could always count on a timely card or note, rendered in flawless schoolteacher cursive handwriting. She was an accomplished Scrabble player, recently and routinely beating her sons, daughters-in-law and grandchildren.

Mrs. Griffith was a stockholder in the Riverview Abbey Mausoleum Co., and served many years as the secretary/treasurer with her husband, Norman, who was president.

Mrs. Griffith was baptized in Bygland Lutheran Church and after moving to Portland, was an active member of Burlingame Baptist Church and Southwest Bible Church for many years.

Alice Griffith loved her husband, her family and her Lord. She was an angel, and is greatly missed.