James “Jim” H. Griffis, who died Aug. 24 at 94 in his Aurora home, was Colorado’s first state park manager and helped develop Cherry Creek State Park, Horsetooth State Park and Lory State Park.
One of seven sons, Griffis grew up on a farm near Raton, N.M. From boyhood, he never wasted a minute under a roof when he could be outside.
Griffis was 21 when he married. His bride, Melba Faye Greenhill, was 18. They began dating four years earlier as high school students and enjoyed fishing and hiking.
In 1951, after 19 years as a farmer and carpenter, Griffis moved to Denver. He found more carpentry work with the state. In 1959, he caught the eye of Colorado officials looking for someone to develop the newly designated Cherry Creek and Golden Gate Canyon state parks.
Then, Sixth Avenue defined Aurora’s urban boundary. Havana Street was a two-lane dirt road. Denver residents considered the Cherry Creek reservoir area, now surrounded by an asphalt sea of strip malls and business parks, a pleasantly close high-prairie getaway from the city.
Griffis governed his domain with scrupulous democracy. A Colorado politician once tried to swagger into the park without paying the fee for his boat and car and without a fishing license. Griffis turned him away.
“The politician was trying to use his reputation,” recollected his daughter, Pearl Sayler.
“And Daddy said: ‘You don’t have a license, and you don’t have a permit. I don’t care who you are. You can’t come in with your boat.’ If they wanted to get in the park, they had to pay.”
Griffis mopped up in the wake of the 1965 flood that drove a 20-foot wall of water from Douglas County to downtown Denver.
As the park manager, he was also the park’s lifeguard, rescue crew and law enforcement officer. He saved two men from drowning. The first man thanked him. The second, who was attempting to commit suicide, did not.
He went on to help develop Lory State Park and Horsetooth Reservoir State Park and managed both sites. As he grew older, he became a mentor to young rangers. He often ran the kitchen at the camps where rangers did their winter training.
“He’d be waiting for us with a hot meal, sit us down by the campfire or stove, and tell us stories about the parks division,” recalled Carolyn Armstrong, the current park manager at Cherry Creek State Park.
“He’d tell us, ‘Here’s how you do this, and by gosh, here’s how we used to do that, and oh, watch out for this thing.’ He used to fascinate us young rangers. He felt it was his job to tell us the way the world really was.”
Survivors include his wife, Melba Griffis of Aurora; daughters Pearl Sayler of Aurora and Peggy Shiflet of Collbran; brother Bryan Griffis of Albuquerque; seven grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren. One daughter predeceased him.
Staff writer Claire Martin can be reached at 303-820-1477 or cmartin@denverpost.com.
