Dave Griffiths, age 81 of Hettinger ND, passed away on Sunday evening, December 13, 2015 at the West River Regional Medical Center in Hettinger.

Visitation and Gathering of Family and Friends will be on Tuesday, December 22, 2015 from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. at the Centennial Chapel of Evanson Jensen Funeral Homes in Hettinger, ND.

Dave Griffiths was born to Roosevelt Christner and Eleanore Boehm on November 13, 1934 in Hayes Center, NE. When Dave was 4 years old his dad died and his mother was remarried to Glenn Griffiths. Dave had an interest in the outdoors that kept him going.

After graduating from High School, with the help of others, he headed to Denver, CO to go to Bible School. He earned a 3 year Christian Education certificate. Dave married Claire Salter in 1954 and they had three children.

Through the years he had played around with taxidermy. When he met Don Borman, Master Taxidermist, he began perfecting his technique and kept doing taxidermy for much of his life.

Dave also kept with his religious work for 10 years plus working with Indians, Mexican migrants and kids of varying ages.

He became interested in bird-watching from when he was young, especially waterfowl. Dave started watching all types of other birds as well. Dave had identified over 1000 plus birds throughout his life. He learned them easily and had a good eyesight for them. He was president of the Colorado Field Ornithologists for a while. and he also belonged to the Audubon Society. He and his wife, Carolyn went clear to Alaska chasing birds in 1978. Dave and his wife Carolyn received accommodation from the United States Department Interior wildlife Research Center in Laurel MD, Dave had over thirty years in North American breeding bird survey program collecting data for the Nations Natural Resource Managers, Scientists and policy makers.

In 1974 he met Carolyn Simpson, who started watching birds while
recuperating from and illness and was eager to see more. They were married on March 20, 1975 and started travelling around the country to see different birds and native plants.

After moving to North Dakota, they were helping the US Forest Service identify and count birds on the Grand River National Grasslands. Dave retired from the U.S Department of Agriculture where he was a meat inspector. Since 1986 the Griffiths have been submitting weekly column of their bird observations which was published in Adams County record. He led numerous bird watching field trips which in involved all ages.

When Dave and Carolyn go married, Dave thought it would be nice to go see as many of her Mom's relative as possible. Then they lived all the way from Vancouver, WA to Georgia and places in between to see all the birds along the way.

Birding was so intense for a while that when a rare bird was spotted a long ways away, Dave and a friend literally picked Carolyn up while she was sick and carried her out to the bird. Dave and Carolyn truly enjoyed birding, studying wildflowers and butterflies.

Dave is survived by his wife, Carolyn Griffiths, his sons, Daniel (Robin) Griffiths, Jonathon Griffiths, his daughter, Dannette Dawson, a sister, Barb Wardlow and numerous grandchildren, and great grandchildren nieces and nephews.