Computer: Find Kenneth L Griffin

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By Dr. Jim Foster

“When you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” – Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, 1991

My addiction to the NBC television series “Star Trek” began on September 6th, 1966. Set aboard the fictional Starship U.S.S. Enterprise in the 23rd century with a very unique collection of crew members, I was intrigued by one female voice. The voice of actress Majel Barrett was heard as she portrayed ship’s Nurse Christine Chapel, and she also provided the voice of the ship’s computer. This was a talking computer that was used to run the ship and to also provide information through its library computer. Today, in the 21st   century we now have voice activated computers and are on the edge of much, much more….

I enjoy a good mystery. As a practicing veterinarian, I often find myself in the middle of solving medical mysteries and looking for solutions for sick animals. On Monday, June 2, 2025, Raymond Barton, in his capacity as the Chief of Police for the town of Clarence, Missouri located in Shelby County, brought to Red Barn Veterinary Services in Shelbina, Mo a stray dog. In my capacity as a veterinarian, I was asked to help locate the owners of this dog which was a mystery, and I was also asked to help solve another unique mystery involving a stray cemetery stone that had been discovered in the yard of a residence in Clarence.  I pulled my iphone out of my shirt pocket to begin the search for Kenneth L. Griffin whose name was on the stone.

My phone serves not only as a communication device but also is connected to the internet and as a genealogist and historical researcher, I subscribe to various websites to assist me in solving mysteries and learning about history, especially our local history. This mystery began in Clarence, Missouri in January 1928 which was the time of Kenneth L. Griffin’s death on a farm north of Clarence in the neighborhood of Hager’s Grove. In the year 1928, Clarence was growing with the addition of several new homes and citizens entered the new age of the automobile. Mr. Ruby Renner had invested in building a new oil station between highway 36 and the north road going out of Clarence. F..C. Wine was in the process of building and expanding on a new grain elevator while veterinarian Dr. W.D. Howe was manufacturing his own “Crown Remedies” for livestock including poultry on a level that he invested in building a small factory facility to mass produce the products that were shipped out to customers including hatcheries.

By January of 1928, Clarence citizens had voted in favor of a bond proposition to build a new public high school at a cost of $50,000.00 As the news appeared in the January 27th, 1928 edition of the Independent Courier (Shelby County Independent) newspaper, the same edition on the front page announced the death of eight-year-old Nellie Blanch Jarboe, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Mark Jarboe. Her death was caused by mumps and erysipelas. In the January 31st edition, the death of Kenneth L. Griffin was reported. He had been sick since the previous March and was the only child of George and Mary Gingrich Griffin. He was nine years, three months, and twenty-nine days of age at the time of his passing. A bacterial infection of the tonsils had spread to his heart causing his death.

As I continued further research, I found in the 1950 census records that George and Mary had moved to a residential property in Clarence that potentially matches where their son’s cemetery stone had been recently found. Accessing the website www.findagrave.com, I located the stone in Maplewood Cemetery at Clarence that has the names George, Mary, and Kenneth Griffin, all of whom I believe are buried there. I have to wonder if their grief and love lead them to keep Kenneth’s stone with them as they continued on in this life.

“History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.” — Maya Angelou