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Note: Cecil Cornelius Griffin was born 05 Nov 1914 in Humble, Harris County Texas, the son of Cornelius Owen Griffin and Oddia Augusta Young (granddaughter of Francios Dechaumes the son of Michael Dechaumes - Houston's first architect and a prominent early family of Houston.) Cecil married Adina Bertha Findeisen on January 2, 1940. They had five children: Cecil William, Gene Roger, Glen Arnold, Gary Wayne and Gloria Jean. Cecil served on the USS Indianapolis in 1930's before the war started and on the USS Portland during World War II. He used the proceeds from the GI Bill to purchase the home they raised their family in. After the war, Cecil was a postman. He loved to talk about his service during the war and could whistle just about any tune. He had a very hard life growing up. When he was just 14, during the Great Depression, his parents fell on very hard times and, being a big stocky fellow, he joined the Tree Conservation Core so that he could send money back to his family and have 1 less person to feed. After he returned from the Tree Conservation Core where he said he planted trees all over Oklahoma and Kansas, he returned to Texas and met my grandmother, Adina Bertha Findeisen on a bus in the Heights. His opening line was "Will you marry me?", thinking he was a handsome fellow, she let him site down beside her. He shipped out shortly after they were married and my Grandmother went to live with her parents in Sealy. My father, Cecil William was born while he was away at the war. When he returned, my father was almost 5 years old and spoke only German. Since my grandfather had just been away at war fighting the Germans, he forbid my grandmother to speak German (her 1st language). So, none of the children learned to speak German and my grandmother only spoke it when visiting family, although she still has her German accent. They attended Bethany Lutheran church for over 60 years. Cecil Cornelius Griffin died on July 29, 2005 after a 15 year battle with complications related to diabetes. He was buried with full military honors. RECORDS PERTAINING TO CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORE: GRANDPA WAS AT THE SHELBYVILLE CAMP CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS. The Civilian Conservation Corps, proposed by President Franklin Roosevelt, operated nationwide between 1933 and 1942. it provided outdoor employment for 2.5 million young men working out of nearly 3,000 camps. The camps of 200 men each were supervised by the United States Army and the work projects by the departments of Agriculture and Interior, in cooperation with the state. At individual camps the CCC hired LEMs ("locally experienced men") to work as craftsmen and teachers, and professional architects and engineers to provide design assistance and construction supervision to enrollees. To be an enrollee, a young man was required to be seventeen to twenty-five years of age and from a family on relief. The pay was thirty dollars a month, of which twenty-five dollars was sent directly to the family. Veterans of World War I were also eligible and were housed in separate camps. At its peak in Texas the CCC operated camps with a capacity of 19,200 men. Assignment to states was random, so workers in Texas came from all over the country. Although most camps were devoted to soil-conservation and erosion-control projects, about twenty-five were responsible for the development of state parks. The average CCC enrollee in Texas was twenty years old and served two six-month terms. Participants performed heavy, semiskilled, outdoor labor; most worked on seeding, sodding, planting trees, banking slopes, or building roads and small dams. The enacting statute for the CCC forbade discrimination based on race, color, or creed. Still, the 200,000 black enrollees were often segregated, especially in the South. The CCC offered participants a variety of activities in addition to work. The young men could enroll for classes in camp or in local high schools or colleges and earn educational credits from the elementary to the college level. They could also participate in a sports program that often included baseball, football, and track. The CCC declined as the economy recovered; the advent of World War II brought prosperity and new priorities, and in the summer of 1942 the program ended. Nearly 50,000 Texans were enrolled in the CCC between 1933 and 1942. They left behind significant physical improvements to forest and farmland and passed on soil-conservation information to more than 5,000 farmers. In addition, CCC work in Texas was significantly responsible for development of the state's park system and its architectural legacy. Of the fifty-six state parks established through CCC efforts, thirty-one are still in existence, including Bastrop, Davis Mountains, Garner, Goliad, and Palo Duro Canyon state parks.qqv Several CCC city and county parks also remain in Texas. BIBLIOGRAPHY: John A. Salmond, The Civilian Conservation Corps (Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1967 James Wright Steely, The Civilian Conservation Corps in Texas State Parks (Austin: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, 1986). Kenneth E. Hendrickson, Jr. 1920 WICHITA COUNTY TEXAS CENSUS District 13 Page 9B Line 71 Social Security Death Index about Cecil C. Griffin Name: Cecil C. Griffin Last Residence: 77022 Houston, Harris, Texas Born: 5 Nov 1914 Died: 29 Jul 2005 State (Year) SSN issued: Texas (Before 1951 ) MILITARY SERVICE Civilian Conservation Corps, Kirbyville Texas June 1933-1934 Enlisted: 9-7-35 Honorable Discharge 9-30-39 WWII - Motor Machinist Mate Second Class (USS Sperry, USS Ballard, USS Oakland, USS Indianapolis ComDesPac, Pacific Fleet serving over 100 months of sea duty
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