Patricia Lee Griffes

This is the story of the amazing “bounce-back” life of Patricia “Patti” Lee Griffes, who was born on November 5,1931, on a corn farm in Fremont County, Iowa, to Glenn Shirley and Emma Thorne. After proving up on their homestead outside of Denton, Montana, Patti’s parents had in 1916 returned to southwest Iowa, where they would raise their family. 

Two years after Patti’s birth, her little sister and lifelong friend Iva Jean arrived. The "two little Shirley girls," as they became known, grew up making playhouses in corn cribs, raising chickens, and sewing their own clothes from feed sacks. True Depression-era kids, they made a lot of fun with limited resources.

Patti was musical, and played the piano from a young age. A lifelong pursuit, her talents on the ivories helped land her an early job as a secretary, typing for Mutual of Omaha Insurance. Upon graduating from Randolph High in 1950, Patti married and gave birth to a son named Michael Anthony. Sisters Patti and Iva Jean were instrumental forces in the baby boy's life, as soon after Michael’s arrival, Patti became a single parent. When the opportunity arose to help out her own aunt Iva Huffine, who had remained in Montana, Patti relocated from Iowa to Bozeman with her young son.

There they lived at the Crenshaw Apartments until she met Robert “Bob” Griffes, a forester for the state of Montana. Patti and Bob were married in Bozeman, in 1955. Soon, Bob’s  work took him to Kalispell, where he and Patti welcomed their daughter, Emma Jean. In 1958, the family settled in Missoula County, taking up residence on Van Buren Street, and later on Sunset Lane. The family also acquired property in Seeley Lake, where Patti and Bob could enjoy the mountains and trees.   

In Missoula, Patti spent 12 years working as a legal transcriber and an office manager for AAA, patiently counseling countless travelers until her retirement in 1979. She put all that time spent poring over maps in service of others’ trips to great use—together with Bob, and often accompanied by her sister Iva Jean Cutler of Iowa, Patti road-tripped to almost every state, frequently camped, and traveled to many countries.

Back home in Montana, Patti channeled an early desire to become a home economics teacher into incredible homemaking—gardening, canning vegetables, sewing, and otherwise morphing each of the family’s houses into well-loved homes. When Bob retired from his role as Deputy State Forester in 1985, he and Patti took up full-time residence on their property in Seeley Lake, where they built a cabin on the Double Arrow Ranch. There, Patty planted a beautiful perennial flower garden, and Bob carefully managed the trees until his passing in 2017.

An active member of Seeley Lake, Patti played piano in various area church services, and was active in the Quilt Guild. She took part in senior citizens clubs, community committees, and Bible study groups. Following Bob’s death, Patti spent one winter in Missoula, then returned to the Seeley Cabin, which she heated with wood. She loved to watch deer from her windows. In January 2025, she recovered from a fall, regaining full mobility with help from the people of The Village and Edgewood Vista in Missoula.

Last November, Patti celebrated her 94th birthday with a short concert, treating her fellow rest home residents to a  piano performance. She passed away on March 2, 2026. 

Patricia Lee Griffes is survived by her son Mike Griffes (Lizz), daughter Emma Jean Griffes-Koepplin (Bob), three grandchildren Joseph and Carolin EmmaLee Koepplin (Charlie) and Michael Richards (Michaela), and one great-grandson, Noah Richards. She is welcomed on the heaven side by her five siblings: Grace Fletcher; Lyde, Ross and Lawrence Shirley; and Iva Jean Cutler. 

Patti will be interred with her beloved Bob, at the Western Montana State Veterans Cemetery in Missoula. May they rest well there following their labors on earth, with the full knowledge that theirs were jobs exceptionally well done.

Memorials may be sent to Positive Approach to Care by www.teepasnow.com