Joseph Griggs Sr. passed away on July 6th at his home in Nevada City with family by his side. He was 87.
A celebration of Joe’s life will be held at a future date.
Joe was born in 1933 to Joseph and Ella Griggs of Eureka Utah. With his father being in the mining industry, his family moved many places during Joe’s younger years including Butte Montana, Los Angeles (father worked in Mojave), Railroad Flat CA (where Joe started school), and Reno Nevada. In 1941 Joe’s father moved the family to Nevada City. As a boy Joe participated in scouting, sports and served as an altar boy at St. Canice Catholic Church. He had 2 younger sisters Jean and Marion.
Joe attended Nevada City schools starting with the third grade. He graduated from Nevada City High with the Class of 1951, serving as Student Body President his senior year. He attended Placer Junior College (now Sierra College) for three years with a focus on Forest Engineering. He drove the Placer Junior College bus from Grass Valley/Nevada City to Auburn each day to help offset college expenses.
Joe was in the Army for 2 years at March AFB in Riverside California. He served as an anti-aircraft gun technician and a member of the rifle team where they competed at various stateside bases. Always an excellent shot, the rifle team was great duty until he was discharged in September of 1956.
He met Shirley Neary of Roseville while attending Placer JC. They married in July of 1956 and that fall moved to Corvallis, Oregon where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Forest Engineering from Oregon State University. In the fall of 1957, their first son Joe M. was born. After graduation in 1959, Joe and family returned to Grass Valley.
Joe initially worked for Cal-Pacific Forestry before accepting a position with Yuba River Lumber Co., where he started the forestry consulting side of their business. He enjoyed working for Bill Pendola and a friendship developed between the two men. When Pickering Lumber Company of Standard California came up for sale, Joe worked with Bill evaluating Pickering operations and timber holdings after which Bill decided to acquire the company.
In the fall of 1959, Maryanne was born and 18 months later 2nd son Wendell. The family home was on Alta Hill in Grass Valley where they lived until building a new home in Nevada City in 1965.
In 1966, Lowell Robinson offered Joe an opportunity to become a logging contractor in the Sonora area. Accepting the offer Joe moved his family to Sonora where he and Lowell started Cal-Sierra Timber. Under Joe’s management, Cal-Sierra became one of the prominent logging contractors in the area. In the fall of 1967, their youngest son Matthew was born. Shirley managed the household with 3 busy kids and an infant while Joe worked around the clock turning the fledgling business into a successful and well-regarded operation.
In 1971, Joe, Lowell Robinson and Neil Robinson formed Robinson Enterprises to address the increased demand for logging and road construction. Joe moved his family back to Nevada City. Cal-Sierra operations in Sonora continued requiring frequent trips from Grass Valley which seeded Joe’s interest in learning to fly. He obtained his pilot’s license and via a company Cessna 182 reducing the 6-hour roundtrip to 2.
During the 1970s logging operations grew and Robinson Enterprises expanded into/acquired a variety of businesses including the areas Shell stations and fuel distributorship, North Star Mine and rock crushing operations, dredging in the Yuba Gold fields east of Marysville, mining barite at the Spanish Mine north of the town of Washington, a local data processing and computer service, and later, walnut orchards in the Rio Oso and Nicholas areas of Sutter County. Joe and Lowell were always on the lookout for opportunities to diversify operations.
As the business grew, managing remote operations became increasingly difficult so in the late 1970s after 12 years of operating in Tuolumne County the partners decided to bring Cal-Sierra operations based in Sonora back to Nevada City.
About 10 years later Ed Walker joined the company which marked the beginning of Joe’s 8-year transition from managing logging operations to farming and subsequently his 2nd career as a walnut grower. Joe’s son (Joe M.) assumed responsibility for the company’s logging operations and is currently President of Robinson Enterprises.
Joe enjoyed traveling with Shirley (often with family or friends) to far off places such as Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, the British Isles, the Caribbean, New Zealand, Australia, Mexico, Canada, Hawaii and especially Alaska. Joe and Shirley also enjoyed 20 years of traveling via motorhome throughout the US.
In 2006, Joe and Shirley discovered Outdoor Resorts in Palm Springs where they began spending late fall and winter months following the walnut harvest. It was a delightful and relaxing place that eventually became a permanent winter home. Their 12 years in Palms Springs were blessed with many treasured friendships, including folks from all over the US and western Canada.
Joe was an outdoorsman who loved hunting, fly-fishing, skiing, trap shooting, golfing, and in later years riding his 4-wheeler on the Oregon dunes at Florence and exploring the abandoned mines of Mineral County Nevada. Teaching his children and grandchildren how to cast a fly or operate the fishing boat was a challenge, but he always had fun. Fall often included a hunting trip to Wyoming with “the 3 boys” and friends, a tradition dating back to the 1960s when Joe and his cousin Jerry Christie would hunt on his aunt Florence’s ranch north of Cody Wyoming.
Joe was a member of many associations including the Sierra Cascade Logging Conference (President in 1983), Associated California Loggers (Chapter Chairman), Society of American Foresters, Nevada City Lions (President), Nevada City Elks, and Nevada County Country Club (President). He was awarded ‘Logger of the Year’ by the Sierra Cascade Logging Conference in 1998.
Joe developed an interest in growing walnuts while managing company orchards. After retiring from logging, farming became his primary focus leading to he and Shirley acquiring an orchard along the Bear river near Wheatland in 2011. Gathering for a fall picnic at the orchard following the harvest has become a favorite family tradition.
Joe is survived by his wife Shirley of 64 years, son Joe M. (grandchildren Meghan, Ashley and Chris; great-grandchildren Olivia, Harper and Benjamin), daughter MaryAnne Hoffler (husband Don; grandchildren Jason and Bradley), son Wendell (wife Susan; grandchildren Sarah, Andrew, and Daniel; grea-grandchild Brooklyn), son Matthew (wife Rosa, grandchildren Camilla, Danielle and Nolan) and sister Jean Fridley.
Joe was preceded in death by parents Joe and Ella Griggs and sister Marion Berndt.
