Cleo Wanita Griffiths, 93, passed away peacefully Nov. 19, 2017, at Hutchinson Regional Medical Center in Hutchinson, Kansas.

Cleo was born in Stockville on Feb. 11, 1924, a daughter of Lillian Elma (Claflin) and Cecil Cloyd Schultz.

Throughout the years, Cleo attended elementary school in Brush, Colorado, and Dickens, graduating from the Curtis Ag High School. She then received her teaching degree from the University of Nebraska School of Technical Agriculture in Curtis.

She was a member of Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in McPherson, Kansas, was a former member in North Platte and most recently a member of the Hutchinson Hall.

Through the years, Cleo taught school in a one-room schoolhouse, was a homemaker and took great pride in providing for her family in this manner. She also worked at J.C. Penney in Sidney. She was a piano and organ teacher for more than 45 years, teaching in North Platte, Sidney and McPherson, Kansas.

Cleo enjoyed teaching and playing piano and reading “My Book of Bible Stories” to her grandkids, was an artist, wrote poetry and was a talented seamstress. Her entire family would travel around Nebraska and Kansas, playing at different dance halls in her younger years.

Cleo W. Schultz was united in marriage to Virgil Dale Griffiths on Dec. 24, 1942, in North Platte. Virgil passed away Oct. 9, 2001.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Cecil C. and Lillian E. Schultz; husband, Virgil Dale Griffiths; brothers, Orville “Bill,” Milford “Peanut” and Winston Leonard “Winnie” Schultz.

She is survived by her children, Rodney L. (Mary Lou) Griffiths of McAllen, Texas, Sharlene F. Schroeder of Windom, Kansas, and Shellie Y. Griffiths of Hutchinson, Kansas; sisters, Garnet (Joe) Dixon of Carson, California, and Virginia Lee Workman of Boise, Idaho; six grandchildren, Darin M. Thrash (Michelle Thompson), Tracey (Darin) Werries, Dustin Schroeder (Laura Parks), Tiffany Holler (Sean Balke), T.J. (Hayley) Schroeder and Jordan Schroeder; 20 great-grandchildren; five great-great-grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews, other relatives and a host of friends.

Services will be at 11 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 27, at Glidden-Ediger Chapel, McPherson, Kansas, with Minister Dan Northrup officiating. Burial will be at the McPherson Cemetery in McPherson, Kansas. Friends are invited to call from 2-4 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 26, at Glidden-Ediger Chapel, which is in charge of arrangements.