She was the wife of William B. Griggs II, and the daughter of Franklin C.S. and Emma Cole Leonhardt.
About 1932, at age 16, she was in Beltsville, Maryland with some relatives and went to a government farm where ex-President Calvin Coolidge's horse was kept. A groom asked if Emma wanted to sit on the horse. She said yes and had her picture taken sitting on it (See photo). She then got off and was petting the horse's head when the horse inadvertently moved and put the hoof of its front leg on her foot. No one noticed and she had to yell for the groom to move the horse and free her foot.
While dating William Bentley Griggs II, he was involved in a serious automobile accident and was told he may never see again. The day the bandages were to be removed, he asked Emma to be there in the hospital and told her, "If I can see you, I want to marry you". Quite a proposal and he did see, and they did get married.
She played keyboards (piano, organ) and won a piano contest in Pennsylvania at the age of thirteen. After moving to Connecticut in 1946, she played for the Jane Hart School Of Dancing for more than fifty years. She was the regular organist for the Morris Johnson Funeral Home for more than forty years.
For many years, she was a member of the local cheer troupe that entertained shut-ins, and performed a massive amount of charity work throughout New England. She last performed in public for the Music Makers Of Bloomfield (Connecticut) on October 29, 2005 at the age of 89, just five months before she passed away.
About 1932, at age 16, she was in Beltsville, Maryland with some relatives and went to a government farm where ex-President Calvin Coolidge's horse was kept. A groom asked if Emma wanted to sit on the horse. She said yes and had her picture taken sitting on it (See photo). She then got off and was petting the horse's head when the horse inadvertently moved and put the hoof of its front leg on her foot. No one noticed and she had to yell for the groom to move the horse and free her foot.
While dating William Bentley Griggs II, he was involved in a serious automobile accident and was told he may never see again. The day the bandages were to be removed, he asked Emma to be there in the hospital and told her, "If I can see you, I want to marry you". Quite a proposal and he did see, and they did get married.
She played keyboards (piano, organ) and won a piano contest in Pennsylvania at the age of thirteen. After moving to Connecticut in 1946, she played for the Jane Hart School Of Dancing for more than fifty years. She was the regular organist for the Morris Johnson Funeral Home for more than forty years.
For many years, she was a member of the local cheer troupe that entertained shut-ins, and performed a massive amount of charity work throughout New England. She last performed in public for the Music Makers Of Bloomfield (Connecticut) on October 29, 2005 at the age of 89, just five months before she passed away.
She was the wife of William B. Griggs II, and the daughter of Franklin C.S. and Emma Cole Leonhardt.
About 1932, at age 16, she was in Beltsville, Maryland with some relatives and went to a government farm where ex-President Calvin Coolidge's horse was kept. A groom asked if Emma wanted to sit on the horse. She said yes and had her picture taken sitting on it (See photo). She then got off and was petting the horse's head when the horse inadvertently moved and put the hoof of its front leg on her foot. No one noticed and she had to yell for the groom to move the horse and free her foot.
While dating William Bentley Griggs II, he was involved in a serious automobile accident and was told he may never see again. The day the bandages were to be removed, he asked Emma to be there in the hospital and told her, "If I can see you, I want to marry you". Quite a proposal and he did see, and they did get married.
She played keyboards (piano, organ) and won a piano contest in Pennsylvania at the age of thirteen. After moving to Connecticut in 1946, she played for the Jane Hart School Of Dancing for more than fifty years. She was the regular organist for the Morris Johnson Funeral Home for more than forty years.
For many years, she was a member of the local cheer troupe that entertained shut-ins, and performed a massive amount of charity work throughout New England. She last performed in public for the Music Makers Of Bloomfield (Connecticut) on October 29, 2005 at the age of 89, just five months before she passed away.
About 1932, at age 16, she was in Beltsville, Maryland with some relatives and went to a government farm where ex-President Calvin Coolidge's horse was kept. A groom asked if Emma wanted to sit on the horse. She said yes and had her picture taken sitting on it (See photo). She then got off and was petting the horse's head when the horse inadvertently moved and put the hoof of its front leg on her foot. No one noticed and she had to yell for the groom to move the horse and free her foot.
While dating William Bentley Griggs II, he was involved in a serious automobile accident and was told he may never see again. The day the bandages were to be removed, he asked Emma to be there in the hospital and told her, "If I can see you, I want to marry you". Quite a proposal and he did see, and they did get married.
She played keyboards (piano, organ) and won a piano contest in Pennsylvania at the age of thirteen. After moving to Connecticut in 1946, she played for the Jane Hart School Of Dancing for more than fifty years. She was the regular organist for the Morris Johnson Funeral Home for more than forty years.
For many years, she was a member of the local cheer troupe that entertained shut-ins, and performed a massive amount of charity work throughout New England. She last performed in public for the Music Makers Of Bloomfield (Connecticut) on October 29, 2005 at the age of 89, just five months before she passed away.
