The Pike County Cattlewomen honored the memory of one of its own during the annual “Person of the Year” banquet at Cattleman Park Saturday night.
Family members and friends accepted the award, which was presented as framed photographs of the late Jewel and Toby Griffin. The Griffins were longtime and dedicated members of the Cattlewomen’s and Cattlemen’s associations and hosted the “Father of the Year” banquet at their farm in the Orion community each June.
“The Cattlewomen planned to break with tradition this year and honor Jewel as the ‘Person of the Year,’” said Tammy Powell, Cattlewomen co-president. “When we asked Jewel if she would mind if we recognized her, she said she would be honored. It was our plan for Jewel to be here with us. But God had other plans for her.”
Powell read a scripture from Psalms 30:5. “For his anger lasts only a moment but his favor lasts a lifetime. Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.”
“When I hear this scripture I think of Jewel,” Powell said. “Jewel was a favored one – one who believed. And, yes, we did weep and cry, but we know that joy came to Jewell.
“‘Miss Jewel’ was a servant – not just to God and her faith, but also to Pike County.  To have a servant’s heart is truly something for which to be admired.  We would all be much better people if we followed in Jewell’s footsteps.”
Griffin was involved in many county organizations, including the Pike County Cattlewomen’s Association, the Pike County Farm-City Committee, and the Pike County Women’s Committee of the Farmer’s Federation.
“Through these she led us in providing service to our community,” Powell said. “She believed in serving others.
“As our ‘Person of the Year,’ Jewell is recognized especially by serving the youth of our county. Even though she was not a biological parent, she worked diligently in so many ways to make sure that young people were recognized.
“For many years, she took agricultural coloring books to all of the second graders in Pike County.  There’s no telling how many children she introduced to agriculture through this service she provided.”
Through her Cattlewomen’s involvement, Griffin helped raise funding for the Cattlewomen’s Winnie Lee Scholarship program.
“She knew that education is so very important and believed in our scholarship program to help young people further their education,” said Heather Minton, Cattlewomen co-president. “She also believed in the youth calf shows and in young people learning about the cattle industry – and she showed this by working at every activity that we had for youth.
“Miss Jewel was instrumental in the Pike County Homemakers Council providing funding to send youth to the National 4-H Citizenship Washington Focus program. She felt that young people needed to learn about our government and could do so through this forum.”