This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Griffith, Gossett, Evans, Vacirca, DeFino Classification: Obituary Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/SRB.2ACE/12124 Message Board Post: PJ: Sun. 11/20/2005: Las Vsgas, NV - Jamestown native, Donald Irving Griffith died of complications from old age, Nov. 11, 2005, three days after celebrating his 100th birthday. Don was a descendent of Revolutionar War veteran Jeremiah Griffith, an early settler at Chautauqua Lake, and was the son of Ada Gossett Griffith and steamboat captain Irving "Cap" Griffith. A 1930 graduate of the Cleveland School of Art, Griffith was a sculptor, painter, engineer and architect. After college, Don moved to Denver, where he painted murals as part of the WPA, founded the University of Science and Art, and started the American Engineering Company of Colorado. He designed power plants near Las Vegas, painted dozens of desert landscapes and was an active longstanding member of the Las Vegas Racquet Club, where he played tennis with numbeous pros and celebrities. In 1991 National Senior Olympics in Syracuse, N.Y., Griffith, 85, won four silver and two bronze medals in swimming and tennis. He bought his first PC at age 90 and digitally photographed and catalogued his artwork. During a long, active and healthy life Griffith challenged himself and others and was an inspiration to his friends and family. He urged people to go to college. Don is survived by a sister, Barbara Evans, Mayville, N.Y.; a niece Rev. Cynthia Koski, Earleville, MD, nephews: Allan Evans and Ed Evans; great-nieces: Rachel Evans, Jennifer Koski-Vacirca, Ann Roberts, Allison DeFino, great-nephew, Brian Evans, 3 great-great-nieces and 2 great-great-nephews. Don was preceded in death by his wife, Gladys, and his brother, Harold Griffith of Jamestown, N.Y.