More than Luck
A Memoir
by
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I walked across the office lobby and flipped on the lights. When I turned back to relock the door, my chest constricted and my heart began to pound. A broad-shouldered, six-foot man, dressed in desert fatigues and a knitted olive-green face mask, stood inside the door pointing a forty-five automatic pistol at me. "Get on your belly!" he commanded. The word "belly" triggered a mental alarm. A few days before, Tacoma made national headlines with a story about robberies and execution-style killings by a similarly dressed person. The picture of the mini-mart employee lying dead on his stomach, shot through the back of the head, flashed through my mind. Office personnel wouldn't arrive for another forty minutes. I was on my own.
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About the Book
“If someone was to ask me what comes to mind when I think about Jim, I’d say he didn't let life slide away.” —Booth Gardner, governor, State of Washington James S. Griffin, the grandson of pioneer Washington state families, recounts his life story for his grandchildren and generations to come. Beginning with his first memory as a four-year-old, his memoir blends tales of his own life with descriptions historical events and the role his families and distant relatives played in the early years of the city of Tacoma, as well as the founding of Everett, Washington. He also details their participation in a terrifying confrontation, often referred to as the Everett massacre, prior to Washington statehood. More than Luck is a humorous yet tragic memoir that recounts a number of remarkable, life-threatening encounters. He heard these stories from his relatives and also by listening to bedtime stories about kin who came west to the Washington Territory in the late nineteen century to homestead to become lumber barons, mayors, judges, legislatures and entrepreneurs. Their stories and their legacy helped shape Jim Griffin’s character and the direction his life has taken.
About the Author
James S. Griffin, the grandson of a pioneer family of Tacoma, Washington, is a Stanford University graduate with a degree in philosophy. He is a retired real estate developer. Jim and his wife, Wendy, have been married fifty-two years. They have four children and fourteen grandchildren, and they live in Lakewood, Washington.