Katie Griffin-Lindsay

Katie’s life journey began in Browns, Alabama on March 27, 1952. Shortly after her birth, her parents Beecher and Mary Griffin who have both since passed, moved Katie and her siblings to Cincinnati, Ohio.  However, Katie would soon spend virtually every summer throughout high school being raised by her Aunt Love in Birmingham, Alabama.  That is why Katie proudly told everyone who asked that she was a southern girl.

After graduating from Courtier Tech high school in Cincinnati, Katie received a BA degree from the  University of Cincinnati in Business Administration and the College of Mount Saint Joseph in Long Term Care Administration and Gerontology Nursing.  She was a graduate of Good Samaritan School of Nursing and a Registered Nurse. She received an Associate Degree in Respiratory Science from Cincinnati State College and was a Certified Respiratory Therapist. She held certificates as an Ombudsman for the Council on Aging, Advanced Cardiopulmonary Life Support, and as a Basic Life/AED CPR instructor. She enjoyed teaching health-related topics in area colleges.

Despite her focus on health care, Katie always said that her true passion was cooking. She received so many compliments on her cooking abilities that she learned as a child she eventually began to take courses at the Cincinnati State College Culinary program. Bitten by the entrepreneurial bug she enrolled in and completed the Mortar program for urban entrepreneurs.  After completing the program, she began a part-time successful catering business, Two Women and an Oven, with her older sister OD (Odessa).

Katie loved life and was always seeking new adventures. Earlier in her life journey, she became a flight attendant for the old Piedmont Airlines and later returned to work for Comair Airlines.  While working for Comair she also worked as an RN and a Respiratory Therapist. When she ceased being a flight attendant Katie began working as a customer service\gate agent for Delta airlines where she continued to work until the day she left us. At times during various points in Katie’s life, she often joked to her friends that she was Jamaican because she held several different jobs at the same time.

Katie loved traveling, shopping, fashion,  music, concerts, plays, teaching,  and cooking.  Katie always loved having a good time with friends and family.  Her travels took her to many places inside and outside the United States, e.g., Ireland, Scotland, London, Paris, Egypt, Amsterdam, Mexico, and numerous Caribbean islands.  She wanted to see the world and was an eager and willing travel companion for her friends at Delta airlines or her family.  She was always ready to go whenever and wherever, whether abroad or within the United States. When she arrived to a new destination, she never missed an opportunity to shop and experience whatever the locale had to offer.

Katie was the type of woman who commanded any room she entered. She was larger-than-life. Anyone who knew or saw Katie knew that she had an obvious flair for fashion and style. She was welcoming to all, even strangers. She loved her husband Garey, her constant supportive companion through good times and bad. She loved her two daughters Janean and Asia and their husbands, Mo and Johnny, respectively. She loved all of her sisters and brothers, nephews, nieces, cousins, and friends. She would move heaven and earth for all of them. She was a willing listener,  always encouraging them, supporting and giving advice to them in all aspects of their lives. 

Most of all Katie loved God. She loved her church home, the Church of the Resurrection, she loved listening to modern gospel music, she was a prayer warrior, and as the song goes she believed that God provides. Her love for God was expressed in the love she had for her family and her friends. Whenever she ended a conversation with a family member or a friend she always told them that she loved them and when they replied that they loved her too she would reply,  ‘I love you more”.  Ín the last 5 months of Katie’s life God gave her the opportunity to experience a new love, one that she had never experienced before and had always hoped for. She had her first grandchild; his name is Damian.  She loved Damian, so, so much.  There was absolutely nothing that Damian could do that would prevent Katie from holding, kissing,  spoiling, and loving him.  She often said that Damian was her baby boy, calling him G baby and she was his GiGi.

Our hearts ache, we miss Katie as a grandmother, wife, mother, sister, aunt, niece, cousin, and friend. We love her, and yes, we know that she loved us more!

Katie suddenly and unexpectedly left us on September 24, 2021. We know that she never wanted us to say goodbye when we were together and would subsequently go our separate ways. She wanted us to always say see you later. So for all of your family and friends, we’ll see you later.
Katie leaves behind to cherish her memory: Garey Lindsay, her husband and companion for over 41 years; two daughters, Janean Pegues and Asia Lindsay- Sheanshang; two son-in-laws Morton Pegues and Johnny Sheanshang; her grandson Damian Kenji Sheanshang; sisters Odessa Griffin Blakey, Renee Griffin Parker, Shelly Bennett, and Lameetra Neal; brother Raymond Griffin; a niece Chantay (Til) Griffin who was like a younger sister, her uncle “Buddy”, and a host of other nieces, nephews, cousins and very close friends far too numerous to name and all of whom she loved equally.

In lieu of flowers, we ask that you make donations to either of the following organizations: https://www.hairtostay.org/; https://www.heart.org/; or https://secure.givelively.org/donate/mortar-cincinnati