‘His presence will always be here’ — Islanders gather to remember and honor Garth Griffin

Community. Service. Helping. Kindness.

Those words were repeated many times by speakers at a gathering at the Shelter Island Community Center Saturday. The occasion was a ceremony dedicating the FIT Center as The Garth Griffin Fitness Center, and to share memories of an Islander whose loss is felt deeply by all who knew him.

Appointed the Shelter Island recreation director in May 1981 and holding the post until his retirement in the summer of 2017, Mr. Griffin died at home in January 2020, at age 66.

A plaque was unveiled Saturday naming the FIT Center in his honor, and tributes to Mr. Griffin and memories of him and his life on Shelter Island were shared, especially his service to the community and as a driving force in the athletic history of the Island.

Before master of ceremonies Councilman Jim Colligan took the microphone to start the proceedings, as a bright autumn afternoon sun filled the newly refurbished Center, Shelter Island Fire Department volunteer Mike Johnson remembered his friend with fondness. Standing with several other members of the department in full dress uniforms. Mr. Johnson said he had known Mr. Griffin for 45 years, and “Garth was one of kind. He was always willing to help you in any way.”

His friend had been a member of the Department, serving as chief of the original Heights Fire Department for a time in the 1980s, and as treasurer of the Department. Mr. Griffin was also a  member of the Island’s Emergency Medical Services, another volunteer position he took on to serve the community, when the ambulance corps was still under the auspices of the Red Cross. He also served as part-time Town police officer.

Waiting for the ceremony to kick off, Islander Dick Behrke said, “He was a big, friendly, beautiful presence. That’s why I’m here.”

After welcoming everyone and thanking them for coming, Mr. Colligan introduced School Superintendent Brian Doelger, Ed.D., who said that “all our students loved him.” He noted that the beauty of Shelter Island is not just its natural setting, but for its tradition of service, which Mr. Griffin embodied.

Kim Reilly, head of the Town’s Recreation Committee, came up with the idea to honor Mr. Griffin. Mr. Colligan carried that request for the dedication to the Board of Education — the FIT Center is located in the school’s building — and the Town Board, both of which were quick to enthusiastically embrace Ms. Reilly’s and the Recreation Committee’s request.

Cliff Clark, a legendary Island athlete and community activist, gave a brief history of the formation of the FIT Center and Mr. Griffin’s energy and ideas to get the project completed. “No one spent more hours keeping the FIT Center open,” Mr. Clark said. “If an attendant could not make an evening shift, Garth would be there to closing. If the next day the morning attendant could not make it, Garth would be there to open up. He was a community minded, dedicated servant to our children and Town. Nothing could be more fitting than to honor this kind, honorable person than to name this special place after him.”

One of the speakers, Walter Richards, a member of the Shelter Island’s Athletic Hall of Fame, spoke for many by saying how his life and his family had been enhanced by Mr. Griffin’s stewardship of the FIT Center. Most of all, he remembered his conscientious mentorship, which sustained him as a student/athlete. “Thank you, coach,” Mr. Richards said, movingly.

Jay Card Jr., another standout Island athlete, who is recovering from knee surgery, sent a written tribute, which read in part, that Mr. Griffin was “a father figure when we needed it, and a big brother at other times.”

Mr. Card also mentioned that many who knew him well never realized that Mr. Griffin was a world class athlete, because he never spoke about his accomplishments in a braggadocios way.

As a student at Kent School, a college prep school in Connecticut, the young Mr, Griffin discovered rowing, and was commodore of the Kent School Boat Club, a port oarsman and stroked second boat in an 8-man crew . The team competed in the Henley on the Thames Royal Regatta in England, a world-renowned center for rowing. They won the prestigious Princess Elizabeth Cup in the School Boy Eights Division. In 1972, the Kent School became international champions. So good was this team during those years that a book titled “Men of Kent” was written about them.

At Marietta College in Ohio he  joined a nationally ranked college rowing team that went on to win a championship with an all-freshman undefeated team.

Mr. Card concluded by writing that he still “felt his spirit on the Island. I feel it today.”

Shelter Island High School coach and teacher, Peter Miedema said he first came to Shelter Island to coach basketball. “At practices and at games, there was always this large man behind me, who always had positive things to say, “ Mr. Miedma said. “Rooster, G, or Big G, stood out not because of his red hair or his size,” but because of his character, “and his presence will always be here. It’s important to come together to celebrate something important, and that’s community, and that was Garth.”

Mr. Griffin’s brother, Ray, told the gathering that the afternoon was a beautiful tribute to his beloved brother. Noting the naming of the Center in his brother’s honor is “one way of keeping Garth in our minds and hearts.”

Police Chief Jim Read said “looking around this room today, I see so many lives Garth touched.” He and his friend loved many things in common, he said, but especially “sports and service.”

Mr. Griffin was the rare person who “didn’t just stand by people in good times, but in bad times as well,” Chief Read said.

The gathering to remember and honor his friend was especially important, the chief added, since he passed away just before the pandemic started. “The blur of COVID sunk memories of Garth a little bit,” he said. “I’m so happy we’re all here today, remembering. He touched us all so deeply.”

Sports, service and Mr. Griffin’s dedication to young people was summed up by Mr. Clark, who said, “Everyone who graduated from Shelter Island School was one of Garth’s kids. He was a servant of our children.”

Those words resonated later, when down the street at the community basketball courts on Bateman Road, kids were shooting hoops, their happy voices carrying in the sharp air of the bright autumn afternoon.