Bus Griffiths dies

I'm sorry to have to say Bus Griffiths died Sept. 25. Bus was a lifelong logger from Fanny Bay who painted and drew in his retirement years, publishing the classic graphic novel Now You're Logging in 1978 and illustrating Bush Poems by Peter Trower as well as Patrick and the Backhoe by Howard White. His meticulously detailed oil paintings showing old-time logging scenes and wildflife are avidly collected by conoisseurs of logging and of folk art. Bus was a privilege to know, a simple, sweet guy who somehow was never sullied by the moral confusion of the age he passed through. To him the original good guys were still the good guys and the bad guys the bad guys, just like they told him in school. And somehow when you looked through his eyes, you could still see that uncomplicated, uncompromised world as well. It is there in all his pictures and stories, and that is their magic. He loved nature and his love of it shines through in his meticulous detailing of weather, of the bark on trees and in the posture of the proud four-prong buck. It is there in the innocent satisfaction he took in his work as a logger, only concerned with doing his job to perfection and never conflicted by the latter-day controversy that surrounded it. He was short, but built like a fireplug and took endless pride in his physical strength. Even as a very old man, there was something of the little boy about Bus. He enjoyed the celebrity his art brought him in his latter years, and kept up his spirits even after a series of strokes landed him in extended care three years ago, but he'd had a rough time the last six months and only a few days ago told Marg he was ready to go. The memorial will be in the Union Bay Church Oct. 21 at 1 PM with a reception at the Fanny Bay Hall follwing at 2 PM.

Contributed by: Raincoaster