For more than six decades, Haddon Fire Company Number 1 Chief Joe Riggs said Parker Griffeth, 85, had stopped into the firehouse he loved so much almost every single day to make sure everything was running smoothly or to share a kind word with one of his fellow volunteers.
Unfortunately, the volunteers that Griffeth worked side by side with for more than 65-years won’t see his face pop into the department anymore.
The longest serving volunteer of the fire company passed away on Saturday, Jan. 28 after a lengthy battle with cancer. The fire company and the borough commissioners had recently honored him for his six decades of tremendous service to Haddonfield.
“His commitment was exceptional as a volunteer. Not only did he respond to calls for 65 years, but he was also very active on the administrative side of the department. He was the secretary to the fireman’s relief association and he was the trustee to the fire company. It wasn’t all about responding to the fires, but his commitment was to the organization as much as it was about being a volunteer,” Riggs said. “He stopped in the station almost everyday, usually around lunchtime, to say hello to the guys and to verify that everything was going well. He was always there to lend a thought or a helping hand around the station.”
Griffeth joined the company in May of 1947. Parker’s father and his Uncle Russ were the assistant chief and chief of the company when he joined.
Griffeth had worked with his son, David, at the station since 1975. He also worked with his grandson Bryan for only six months before Bryan’s unfortunate passing in December of 2009.
