Their parade has now passed us by. While it lasted it was quite a show. Those of us fortunate to have had a front row seat might have thought that they were somehow immune to the normal passing of time. But as we observe the one hundredth anniversary of the decade of their births we are reminded that they were merely ordinary people made remarkable, not only by the extraordinary times in which they lived, but the fact that they were our parents.

They entered the world stage from Glasgow Scotland in the following order:

Alethea 1917
Virginia 1919
Norma 1920
Bill 1922
Gloria 1926
Thora 1927
Clem 1927

This gallery is an attempt to pull together all known photographs from the archives of the various Griffin siblings - Alethea, Virginia, Norma, Bill, Thora, Clem. To do this I included a large number of pictures from the master photo file that Terry Pender put together for the 2003 family reunion. Included were pictures from Norma Crosbie's and Bill Griffin's collection. To Terry and Tony Griffin I owe a debt of gratitude for the work they put into the project for that occasion. For this gallery I have added a number of photos from my mother, Virginia Jennings,' collection as well. Even though she was never known to have actually taken a photograph of her own, she somehow managed to gather an impressive collection of family photos which she carefully preserved during her lifetime.

If you're wondering why so many pictures show them walking the streets of various cities, this was due to the presence of street photographers who roamed the sidewalks taking candid shots of people as they went about their business. They would then give a ticket to the subject who would redeem it for the picture at a commercial address - for a fee of course. This is how Clem explained it to me when I asked him about it.

The gallery is presented in chronological order according to the dates determined by Terry Pender and Tony Griffin when they uploaded their pictures in 2003. In the photos that I have added, I attached an asterisk to the year in the rare cases when it is noted on the back of the original photo. If I'm taking a wild guess I add a "c" before the year for circa.

You will notice I have not included any photos in which their children - me or my first cousins - are present. For too long we have made their lives about us; this time it's all about them.

I have chosen to keep intact the charm of the original captions as identified in 2003 by Terry (with the help of Norma's memory) where they included nicknames that had their origin back in the 1920s. The following translations will help:

William = "Willie" or "Dads"
Veronica = "Muds" short for "Muddie"
Alethea = "Ally"
Virginia = "Virgy"
Norma would forever be known by Virginia as "Nonnie," but is not used here.

"Langa" was the Griffin home at 48 Hamilton St (now Fortrose St) Glasgow where they lived from 1922 - 1932

"Brookehill" was their summer home in Killybegs, County Donegal, Ireland from 1919 - 1932

Lily and Teresa were Veronica's sisters, one of whom seems to be present in nearly photo. I still
can't tell one from the other.