Carolyn Noel Elliott Griffin

Noel Griffin passed away on March 19, 2025, in Austin Texas, after an extended illness.

Memorial services will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, April 2, 2025, at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Gatesville. A rosary prayer service will be held immediately prior to the service, beginning at 9:15 a.m.

Carolyn Noel Elliott Griffin was born at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and grew up in Richmond Virginia. She and her family had made their home outside of Gatesville for over twenty years. Noel held a bachelor’s degree from the University of Alaska, was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, was a substitute teacher in Germany and a Girl Scout leader. She was an active leader in family support groups during her husband’s thirty-eight-year military career and was awarded the Department of The Army’s Outstanding Civilian Service Medal (Commander’s Award for Civilian Service), the Meritorious Public Service Medal, and was commissioned as a Yellow Rose of Texas by the Governor.

Noel was preceded in death by her mother, Mildred Downey; father, CW4(R) James Elliott, USMC; and sister, Mildred Stribling.

She is survived by her husband of fifty-four years, Gen (R) Benjamin Griffin; daughters, Elizabeth Anne Griffin Cain and husband, Will of Austin, and Jennifer Lynn Griffin, Esq of Bethesda Maryland; son, SSG(R) Jason Michael Griffin of Washington; four grandsons, Liam and Benjamin Griffin and Zachary and Elliott Cain; sister, Darlene D. Clark of Knoxville, Tennessee; and sister in law, Mary Ann Sheffield of Emporia Virginia.

In lieu of flowers, memorials can be directed to the University of Alaska Foundation at P.O. Box 755080, Fairbanks, Alaska 99775, or online at https://engage.alaska.edu/uaf. Please note "Carolyn Noel Griffin Memorial Endowed Scholarship" on the check memo line or in the online comment field.