Lester George Griffith, 89, died at Kimball Health Service on Saturday, January 23, 2010.  Funeral services will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, January 27, 2010 at the Cantrell Funeral Home in Kimball with Reverend Roger Gillming officiating.  Burial will be held in the Dix Cemetery.  Friends may call at the funeral home on Tuesday from 1:00 until 6:00 p.m.  Memorials have been established to the American Diabetes Foundation.  Cantrell Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements

He was born February 9, 1920 on a farm south of Clarinda, Iowa. He was the first son of Harry Stillwell and Gertrude Hazel (Patee) Griffith. The family moved to western Nebraska in 1921 when Lester was one year old.  He attended school in the Dix, NE area and high school in Dix.  He married Dorothy Darline Spencer in Laramie, WY on June 3, 1939, a local teacher who lived with the family teaching in the local school. Growing up as a farmer’s son, he became a farmer himself and farmed all his life until his retirement. No matter what the weather was, he related it to the crops that it would raise.  In the late 50’s he worked as a mechanic for a local implement dealer in Kimball. Later, in the late 60’s and early 70’s he was a deputy sheriff in Kimball County. During this same time, he sold and repaired business band radios in his shop on the farm. He was also a dealer for Crustbuster farm equipment. As necessity is the mother of invention, he manufactured his own repairs and other ideas only to have similar items patented by others in later years.  In the early 50’s and 60’s he owned several airplanes and received his commercial license only to stop flying because of failing eyesight. There is still evidence of his registered air strip on the farm northeast of Kimball.  Besides farming, one of his greatest loves was camping.  He also spent many winters as a winter Texan visiting with new acquaintances and escaping the cold Nebraska winters.

He is survived by his wife of  70 years, his sons, David and Douglas Griffith and daughters Marcia (Ray) Buescher, Sharon and Jeanne Griffith. Also surviving are 11 grandchildren and 18 great grandchildren and 1 great, great grandchild.  He was preceded in death by his parents, his sisters, Hazel Hughes, Margaret Kilgore and Mabel Griffith and his brother Paul Griffith.