Bessie Griffin

Bessie Theresa Tucker Griffin was born March 16, 1943, in Washington D.C., to the late Jay Lee Tucker, Sr., and Effie Lee Sims Tucker.

Bessie, also known as "Bonnie" and pronounced Bunny because her brothers could not pronounce it, graduated from Booker  T. Washington High School in  1962. After graduating from high school, she attended Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas, where she joined the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority and earned a degree in Education. She later went to Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, and earned a Master of Science in Education. After finishing her studies at Drake University, she worked as an educator for the Des Moines Public District and a substitute teacher for the El Dorado Public School District.

She is preceded in death by her father, Jay Lee Tucker, Sr., and mother, Effie Lee Sims Tucker.

She is survived by her two daughters, Ju Juan Anna Rose Griffin Newton "Peaches" of Indianapolis, Indiana, and Effie Denise Griffin Miller "Neicee" of El Dorado, Arkansas; her two brothers, Jay Lee Tucker, Jr. "Junior "of White Hall, Arkansas, and Albert Lee Tucker "Fuzzy" (Gwendolyn) of Des Moines, Iowa; six grandchildren; ten great-grandchildren; and a host of nephews, nieces, family, and friends.