Ship Bottom's Johannah Griffin, A Friend To Many, Dies At 91

Courtesy of Bugbee-Riggs Funeral Home

Johanna Griffin (nee Hedderman) passed away at Southern Ocean Medical Center on July 27, 2018. She was 91.

She was born Johanna Philomena Hedderman on a farm in Mitchelstown, County Cork, Ireland on Sept. 22, 1926 to Nora (Fraher) and Maurice Hedderman. She attended primary school in Mitchelstown, completed her schooling in an Irish-speaking curriculum in Kilfinane, County Limerick, where she won national recognition for scholarship, and then trained to become a nurse.

Unable to secure meaningful employment in Ireland, she sailed for the United States in 1949 on board the U.S.S. George Washington, a converted troopship. She was welcomed by two aunts, Hanna McCarthy and Delia Fraher, and a large extended family.

Johanna first worked in the Jersey City Medical Center and earned degrees in nursing from Seton Hall and St. John's University. Afterwards, she taught in the Medical Center's registered nursing program for years. Eventually, she helped inaugurate the licensed practical nursing program in Jersey City, in which she taught for two decades.

As a successful immigrant, she was devoted to the idea of the United States of America as a land of opportunity. For her contributions in helping the underserved, Johanna would be recognized by the State of New Jersey and at Ellis Island.

More significantly, in 1964 she met and married Michael Griffin, and together they had two children, Patrick and Johanna (Joan). Johanna was an active parishioner of St. John the Baptist in Jersey City.

Since retiring, she has become what many describe as "a pillar" of St. Francis Church in Brant Beach. Here, she served as a Eucharistic minister, led rosary and adoration societies, and marked her fiftieth anniversary as a member of the Third Order of Saint Francis.

A woman shaped by religious devotion, especially to the Blessed Mother, and to living out the Beatitudes, she has spent her retirement providing food for the homeless, knitting clothes for the newborn, ministering to the sick, and working to protect the dignity of the addicted, the aged, and the unborn. She followed (avidly if not joyfully) the New York Mets, the New York Giants, and Notre Dame football.

Johanna is predeceased by her husband Michael, who passed away in 2005, her parents Maurice and Nora, a son-in-law Todd Jacobs, brothers William and Edmund, and sister Nora. She is survived by a brother Patrick and sister Mary (both of Mitchelstown), her son Patrick (South Bend, IN) and daughter Johanna (Ridgewood, NJ), her daughter-in-law Mary Hope Griffin, and six loving grandchildren: Michael, William, Reagan, Mary Magdalene, Cailin, and Anne.

A viewing will be held from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 1 and on Thursday Aug. 2, from 9:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. at the he Bugbee-Riggs Funeral Home, 1119 Long Beach Boulevard (corner of 12th Street in Ship Bottom, NJ 08008. A Funeral Liturgy will be celebrated at 10 a.m. on Thursday August 2, at St. Francis of Assisi Parish, 4700 Long Beach Boulevard, Brant Beach. Interment shall follow St. Mary's Parish Cemetery, Manahawkin. In lieu of lowers, please send contributions to the Saint Francis of Assisi Food Pantry.

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