By Tracy Gupton
West Columbia treasure Beth Griggs was within two months of becoming a centenarian when she died on October 27, 2018. The 99-year-old historian was eulogized at her funeral five years ago at Columbia United Methodist Church by West Columbia Mayor Laurie Beal Kincannon.
“She was my mentor,” Kincannon said. “It was one of my greatest honors to be asked to speak at ‘Miss Beth’s’ funeral.”
In the present day, Mayor Kincannon is in the front of the line as the “go to” individual to acquire information pertaining to the history of West Columbia, East Columbia and all things West of the Brazos in Brazoria County. “Beth had a hand in practically all historical projects in this area” during her lifetime. “She definitely left her mark.”
Kincannon said she lived next door to Hall and Beth Griggs on South 13th Street in West Columbia until Laurie Beal was in the sixth grade. The current longtime mayor of West Columbia is now carrying the torch Beth Griggs once carried as a civic leader with strong interests in local history.
West Columbia Treasure Beth Griggs, 1918-2018
Mable Elizabeth Ferguson was born December 28, 1918, in Rockwall, Texas, the daughter of Roy and Eloise Smith Ferguson. She graduated from Greenville High School in Hunt County and attended one year of college at Wesley Junior College in Greenville, which is about 50 miles northeast of Dallas. Beth graduated from the University of Texas in 1939 and received a bachelor’s degree in Library Science from Texas Women’s University in Denton, Texas, in August of 1942.
Beth Ferguson became the librarian at West Columbia High School in 1941. She married West Columbia attorney Hall Wesley Griggs Sr. in 1945 and they were the parents of Hall Wesley “Wes” Griggs Jr. and Nancy Elizabeth Griggs. Beth’s husband was the son of former West Columbia School District Superintendent Asa Wesley Griggs and Minnie Maude Haines Griggs. Columbia High School’s football field is named Griggs Field in honor of Asa Griggs.
1942 West Columbia High School Librarian Beth Ferguson
Beth and Hall shared an interest in the history of Brazoria County and worked together on many projects to preserve that history. Beth Griggs served as the first president of the Brazoria County Historical Museum in Angleton and for several years was the president of the First Capitol Historical Foundation. She also served on the planning committee for the Capitol of Texas Park in West Columbia.
Among the accomplishments she was most proud of being involved with were the building of the replica of the first capitol of the Republic of Texas next door to West Columbia’s American Legion Hall behind Prosperity Bank, the publication of the book, “Historic East Columbia on the Brazos,” which was published by the First Capitol Historic Foundation in 2009, and the production of the DVD, “Story of a River,” in 2007. The Book Committee responsible for creating the book about the history of East Columbia on the Brazos River was comprised of Beth Griggs, Nita Kennemer, Laurie Kincannon, Wilma Ogilvie, Mike Leebron, Flem Rogers, Bonnie Maynard and Jean Paul. Charlie Ogilvie, Flem Rogers and Wes Griggs were the photographers on the project.
Photo Courtesy of The Brazoria County News
Beth Griggs, pictured at right, in a 1965 West Columbia gathering with a few friends having tea
In addition to her son, Wes Griggs, and his wife Suzanne Borel Griggs, Beth Griggs was survived by her daughter, Nancy Elizabeth Griggs Davison, and her husband Robert Davison; grandchildren, Blake Wesley Griggs and his wife, Vivian Michelle Griggs, Courtney Elizabeth Ledet and her husband, Jared Ledet, Kristine Davison Morgan and Kelly Davison Gould; and great-grandchildren, Asa Wesley Griggs III, Pierce Wesley Ledet, Jack Wesley Ledet, Hayes Wesley Ledet and Grace Elizabeth Ledet.
Beth Griggs was laid to rest at historic Columbia Cemetery beside her husband of 41 years, Hall Griggs, who passed away at 70 on August 23, 1986, in Houston. Serving as pallbearers were her nephews, Greg Laughlin, Mike Laughlin, John Laughlin, Charles Laughlin, Scott Ferguson and Carol Klingemann, her grandsons, Pierce Ledet and Blake Griggs, and grandson-in-law, Jared Ledet.
It will be at Beth’s gravesite at Old Columbia Cemetery where Kaye Crocker will be portraying the longtime local historian at Saturday evening’s “Meet Your Ancestors” event November 4th. The program cosponsored by the Columbia Historical Museum and the Columbia Cemetery Association will kick off at 5 p.m. Saturday and conclude around 7 p.m. The event is free and everyone is encouraged to attend. Other women of notoriety interred at Columbia Cemetery who will be featured at this year’s “Meet Your Ancestors” will be Zula Loggins, portrayed by Mary Wooderson Holler, and three women who came to Texas in the early 1820s with Stephen F. Austin’s “Old Three Hundred” collection of American citizens seeking a new life in frontier Texas: Angeline Caldwell Kerr portrayed by Edie Weems, Mary McKenzie Bell, portrayed by Sarah Lamb, and Rachel Carson Underwood, portrayed by Tina Crawford.