Died April 5, 2009
College: Pierson
Children: Scott
Kent Marshall Griggs of Newton died Sunday, April 5, 2009, in Framingham. He was 69.
Born in Scotia, N.Y., Mr. Griggs was a Newton resident since 1967. He was a graduate of Garden City High School in Garden City, N.Y., Class of 1957, where he was valedictorian. He received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Yale University in 1961, and a master’s degree in electrical engineering in 1963.
He married Virginia Stevenson of Naugatuck, Conn. after graduating from college in June 1961.
Mr. Griggs worked as an engineer at MIT Draper Laboratories from 1967 to 1971. He subsequently designed computer hardware for Digital Equipment Corp. until his retirement.
He leaves his son Scott Griggs and his wife, Lisa, of Newton; his sisters, Patricia Jennings of Syracuse, N.Y., and Marjorie Sullivan of Water Valley, Miss.; and three grandchildren, Axel, Dagny and Marshall.
His memorial celebration will be held Saturday, May 9, at 5 p.m., at MIT Faculty Club, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge.
His funeral service was held Thursday, April 9, at Newton Cemetery.
Memorial donations may be made to Advocate Inc., 1 Clarks Hill, Suite 305, Framingham, MA 01702.
Arrangements were made by MacDonald, Rockwell & MacDonald Funeral Home, Watertown.
The following remembrance was drawn from the recollections of various former roommates and classmates and from his published obituary –
Kent was a serious, mild-mannered student, always prepared for whatever came and always willing to help one of his fellows over a rough spot. He was a very nice person with an infectious smile and positive attitude. He was a talented musician, specializing in the oboe and in the Yale Band, an electrical engineering (EE) major, and member of the Pierson football team. He was always fun to be around.
Recalls a colleague, “we EE guys always felt ourselves a bit beleaguered, with long lab sessions, Saturday classes mandatory, and every exam a comprehensive test of everything we were supposed to know.” Kent was one of those who kept moving ahead with equanimity and without visible strain.
After Yale, he married Virginia Stevenson who graduated from the Yale School of Nursing in 1962 and had a son named Scott. He was employed from 1967 to 1971 at MIT Draper Laboratories and later designed computer hardware for the DEC Corporation and was awarded U.S. Patent 4007448 for Drive Connection to Multiple Controllers in 1977. He had lived since 1967 in Newton, MA.
—compiled by Mike Samuel