Gena Griswold

Memorial services: Monday, March 24, 2008 at 11:00 a.m. at the United Church of Christ in Miles City, MT

Private family interment: will follow at a later date.

The photograph that accompanies this obituary is the quintessential Gena, taken last December on the beach in her home state of Texas. She is covered in sand, feeling the ocean breeze dance through her hair, surrounded by grandchildren. Eugena Marie Powell began her enthusiastic journey through life on July 1st 1935 in Carlsbad New Mexico. She was the first child and only daughter of Edwin and Hazel Powell. Genas younger brothers Paul, Garth and Joe were the delight of her childhood, and the fortunate recipients of her innate mothering skills. Gena married Bobby Lee Griswold on September 8, 1955 and the couple had their first daughter Phyllis in 1958. Gena graduated from North Texas State University in 1960. With a life long love of teaching, she acquired a degree in education and began her long career working with children. She taught in public schools in Arizona, Texas and Montana. While following this meaningful career path Gena, gave birth to and raised three more children, Carrie, Cheryl and Karl Griswold. Gena always said that raising children was the most rewarding job she ever had.

Her teaching skills were as diverse as her heart was big; she taught migrant farm workers children in the summers, small rural classes, years of Sunday school classes, throngs of Girl Scouts and Brownies and offered her vast knowledge and skills to the public through the social services program DEAP.

She was a brownie leader; the coolest brownie leader. When other troops were sitting at long tables folding Readers Digests into turkeys, her troops were learning about the local wildlife, cooking, singing on the local TV station, tying elaborate knots and camping (pitching tents, building campfires, cooking outside, singing songs).

Gena lovingly nurtured her children: hot breakfast every morning, a sit down lunch every noon, endless hours of reading aloud to an eager pack of kids (some of which were not her own), and infinite patience as she took sleepy children to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Throughout her life, Gena was committed to serving her community. She was a Miles City council member, served on the city library board and served on the American Baptist Regional Board.

The house at 601 Cale was Genas mansion. It was not size or grandeur that made it so valuable to her. Rather, it was the pine trees in the front yard where each spring she would watch the returning robins raise their young and the twice a day event of the school children at play. She could look out her kitchen window to witness their games and hear their laughter and delighted screams drifting across the street, filling her kitchen and her heart with joy.

The depth of this woman cannot be expressed in newsprint. Her love of literature was profound, her appreciation for nature was spiritual, and the blissful sound of her off key voice could frequently be heard singing any one of the hundreds of songs she held in her heart and mind. Gena loved reading poetry aloud with her husband of 52 years, Bobby. Throughout her adult life, she could sing every verse of her high school anthem. She was an intelligent conversationalist and a politically active citizen. She embraced friends and strangers with her enthusiasm for life and made friends at home and abroad.

A great adventurer, Gena did not let a major stroke in 1994 hold her back from bold traveling. Her brother Paul or husband Bobby accompanied her camping and hiking in Big Bend National Park, tent camping in the snowy Guadalupemountains, and on trips to England, Mexico and France.

Maintaining strong relationships with parents, siblings, children and extended family was very important to Gena. She and Bobby traveled from Montana to Texas once or twice a year during the 40 years they lived together in Montana. They often returned from Texas though the southwest mountain states to enjoy the rugged scenery that they both loved.

Gena Griswold offered the world an example of ultimate joy. To follow in her graceful steps, we will notice some beauty of nature everyday and share this wonder with another. We will never turn down the opportunity to engage in play with a child, even if only for a moment. We will jump out of bed with a song (at least in our hearts), and dive into any adventure that comes our way. We will reach out with love and true service to our fellow human beings and so create peace in the world.

She is survived by her husband Bobby Griswold; daughter Phyllis Jacoby and Husband Steve and son Connor; daughter Carrie Griswold and sons Isaac and Nils; daughter Cheryl Covone and children Ruben and Lydia; son Karl Griswold and wife Sara Zahendra; brother Garth Powell and wife Rhonda and their children and grandchildren; brother Joe Powell; sister-in-law JoAnn Powel; nephew Eric Powell and family; and nephew Ethan Powell and family; and many others.

She wasproceeded in death by her brother Paul E. Powell.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the local public library or the charity of your choice.

Memorial services will be held with her beloved church family on Monday, March 24, 2008 at 11:00 a.m. at the United Church of Christ in Miles City. Private family interment will follow at a later date. Condolences may be sent to the family by visiting: www.stevensonandsons.com. Stevenson & Sons Funeral Home of Miles City has been entrusted with the arrangements.