Hillis Lohr "Grif" Griffin

December 16, 1930 - May 27, 2017

Hillis Lohr (Grif) Griffin, 86, a resident of Benicia for 30 years, passed away peacefully early Saturday morning, May 27, at Rockville Terrace Senior Living in Fairfield. He was born in Tacoma, Washington to Hillis Frank and Rose Margaret Griffin. He graduated from Tacoma public schools. While serving four years with the Strategic Air Command in England in the 1950's, he also played the organ for two base chapels. He returned to graduate in sociology from the University of Washington and went on for a masters in library administration. In 1958, he married Kathryn Louise (Kitty) Kenney of Spokane; his sons Daniel Hillis and Joel Bryan were born in 1967 and 1969. His first job was at the technical library of the National Reactor Testing Station near Idaho Falls, where he developed computer applications to the then non-technical library service. After four years in Idaho Falls, he worked for Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago where he became the Director of Technical Information. While at Argonne, he also initiated and taught courses at the University of Illinois in Urbana, the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and Rosary College in River Forest, Ill., introducing librarians to library applications of computers. He also gave short courses in New Zealand. Active in professional organizations, he presented papers at library and special library conferences in the U.S and in Europe. He worked with the Library of Congress in the development of machine readable cataloging, which became the basis for the interchange of bibliographic information for computers world wide. After 25 years with Argonne, Grif finished his career with eight years as Director of Technical Information at Lawrence Berkeley Laborary, retiring in 1993. Throughout his adulthood he served as a professional organist at churches. He enjoyed being a carpenter who built major additions onto the family house, a woodworker, and a cook. He took many trips to England, both alone and with each member of his family. In his retirement, he did volunteer work for the Benicia Police Department and the Sutter Solano Hospital flu shot program. He is survived by his wife Kitty of Benicia, his son Dan (Rose Marie) and grandchildren Jonathan Daniel and Kaeli Elizabeth of Martinez, and his brother Paul Warren Griffin (Ellen) and niece Niccole of Fox Island, Washington. He was predeceased by his sister Janet Rose, and by his son Joel Bryan Griffin. A memorial service will be held at 4 p.m. Saturday, June 10, at St. Peter's historic chapel on Mare Island, Vallejo, followed by a chocolate ice cream social on the lawn.