On the first day of July in 1928, the eighth and last child from the loving union of Alex and Mattie Griffin. Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he was named Robert Charles Griffin.

Robert grew up in Tulsa on Lansing street. His educational journey began at Dunbar elementary School, continued at Carver Junior High School and culminated with graduation from the renowned Booker T. Washington High School, where he graduated with the Class of 1948. "Bob", as he was affectionately referred to, played trombone in the band while at Carver and Booker T. Washington.

After high school, Bob enlisted in the United State Navy, where he received his training as a Corpsman. He graduated from the navy Laboratory School in San Diego, California. During the Korean War, he was dispatched to Korea as a Marine Medic. He earned his honorable discharge after six years and six months, as a Petty Officer, 1st Class.

Mr. Griffin began his career with the Department of State in Washington, DC in 1956. He was tasked with establishing the first medical laboratory for the state departement. His first overseas assignment was to the health unit of the U. S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. Kabul was the base from which he covered other countries. In Kabul, he met and married his wife, Christa Ute Biller.

In 1971, he was assigned to the health unit of the U. S. Embassy in Saigon, vietnam, where he remained until the final evacuation day in April of 1975. In January of 1976, during the midst of the cold war, he opened the laboratory for the U. S. Embassy in Moscow, then the Soviet Union. His assignment would last eighteen months. From there, he transferred to the U. S. Embassy in Montovia, Liberia. He witnessed the so-called rice riots, which preceded the murders of President Tolbert and his cabinet in 1980. From 1979 to 1983, he was in charge of the laboratory of the State Departments Medical Unit in Washington, DC. In 1983, Bob was assigned to the health unit of the U. S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt. From there, he covered various other countries in the middle east. He retired from the foreign service in 1985.

This, however, was not the end of his life overseas. His wife, in the meantime, had become an officer in the foreign service. Bob accompanied her to her post in Athens, Greece from 1985 to 1987, Lagos, Nigeria from 1987 to 1989, Doha Quatar from 1990 to 1993 and bujumbura, Burundi from 1993 to 1995. The Griffins lived through the first Gulf War shile in Qatar. Bob was evacuated from Burundi in early 1995 because of the ongoing civil war in Ruanda and Burundi. From 1995 to 2003, Christa worked in the State Department in Washington, DC and the couple lived in Maryland, where they remained after his retirement in 2003.

Bob leaves to lament his passing; his devoted wife, Christa; his two sons, Oliver Griffin, a professor of European History and Mark Griffin, an attorney; along with his dear nieces, other relatives and friends.

The final salute will be on Saturday, September 30, 2006 at 11:00 A.M. in the All Faiths Chapel of Keith D. Biglow Funeral Directors, Inc., of Tulsa.

Interment will be in Green Acres Memorial Gardens in Tulsa.