Memorials › Rev Bennie Theodore Griffin

Rev Bennie Theodore Griffin

31 Dec 1912 – 25 Mar 2005

Birth31 Dec 1912
Death25 Mar 2005
CemeteryBryan City Cemetery
Bryan , Brazos County , Texas , USA
Added byGenResearch on 26 Jun 2025
FaGhttps://www.findagrave.com/memorial/91610720

Bio

Bennie T. Griffin 1912 - 2005 The Rev. Bennie T. Griffin, long-time Baptist missionary to Nigeria, died in Bryan on March 25, 2005. He is survived by his wife, Alice Latham Griffin, to whom he was married for 66 years, and by sons Benjamin Griffin and his wife Gail of Annapolis, MD., and Byron Griffin and his wife Linda of Spicewood, TX. He is also survived by grandchildren Geoffrey Griffin of Middletown, MD., Jeremy Griffin of Seattle, WA., Paige Marks and husband Barry of Pflugerville, TX., Traci Fleet and husband Charles of Round Rock, TX., and Jennifer Griffin Davis of Annapolis, MD. Also surviving him are great-grandchildren William Griffin and Trey and Kacie Marks. He is survived by his sisters Nell Myers of Houston, TX., Irene McGill of Temple, TX., and Mildred Mahler of Bryan and by brother James Griffin of Austin, TX. The Rev. Griffin was preceded in death by his sister Ruth McPherson. Funeral service will be held at 2:00 p.m. Monday at Memorial Funeral Chapel in Bryan, with his sons officiating. Interment will be in the Bryan City Cemetery. Visitation will be 6-8 p.m. Sunday at the funeral home. The Rev. Griffin was born December 31, 1912, in Blackjack community of Robertson County to William Marshall and Lillie Kemp Griffin. At age three he moved with his parents to Bryan where his father opened a blacksmith shop. He graduated with honors in 1931 from Bryan High School. He was senior class president; recipient of the Sankey Park trophy awarded to the outstanding senior; and was captain and quarterback of the 1930 football team. The Rev. Griffin was a charter member of College Avenue Baptist Church, now Central Baptist Church of Bryan. In 1935 the Rev. Griffin received the B.A. degree with honors from Baylor University. In 1938 he earned the degree of Master of Theology from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. In 1939 the Rev. and Mrs. Griffin were appointed Southern Baptist Missionaries to the country of Nigeria in West Africa. Throughout his service in Nigeria he served as advisor to Nigerian Baptist churches and ministers in addition to serving in various administrative positions in Baptist schools and in the Baptist Mission. Perhaps his most noteworthy position was a principal of the Baptist Boys High School in Abeokuta, Nigeria, from 1946 to 1953. Among his students at the Baptist Boys High School was President Olusegun Obsanjo, the current president of Nigeria. Numerous other of his students later assumed governmental, business, educational, or religious leadership positions in Nigeria. From 1954 until his retirement as a missionary in 1978, the Rev. Griffin served as the Business Manager of the Baptist Mission in Nigeria. The Griffins retired to Bryan in 1978. Although the Rev. Griffin had spent almost 40 years in Africa, he was always grateful for his roots and friends in the Brazos Valley. In the years after returning from Africa, he served as interim pastor to more than a dozen churches in and near Bryan. In 2002 the Nigerian government conferred upon the Rev. Griffin the national honor of "Member of the Federal Republic of Nigeria." The Atlanta-based Nigerian Consul General came to Bryan to present the Rev. Griffin the symbols of the honor in a special media-covered ceremony attended by local and out-of-town dignitaries, as well as friends and family.

Inscription

Missionaries to Nigeria 1939-1978

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