Doug Griffin promotes ‘Live Like Molly’ despite personal tragedy

Campus alumna Molly Griffin, ’09, died two and half years ago in a car accident involving a drunk driver. Miss Griffin’s untimely death shook the Griffin family and father, Doug Griffin. Doug wants to remember his daughter beyond Molly Day and what she represented and worked for, not by the way she was taken from him, Feb. 21, 2015.

In memory of his daughter, Doug and the Griffin family created a day to remember Molly. ‘Molly Day’ is celebrated each year on Molly’s birthday, Aug. 26. The Griffin family encourages members of the community to participate in a random act of kindness to celebrate Molly’s life and what she stood for.

“A verse in the Bible that people use frequently for bad things is Romans 8:28, ‘God will use all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purposes,’” Griffin said. “That doesn’t mean that all things are good. We all know that’s not true, but we do know that God can use anything for good if we get on board with him. That’s really what we wanted to do.”

The Griffin’s used social media to spread Molly Day to the community. The hashtag “LiveLikeMolly” promoted random acts of kindness and awareness of the event. According to Doug, people in other countries like Mexico and England have also contributed to Molly Day after reading about it.

“My own personal favorites are children,” Doug said. “I have been a Sunday school teacher and a kid’s soccer coach for almost 20 years. Seeing kids do things was really cool for me. We had kids go downtown around the rescue mission area and feed the homeless. We had kids creating goodie bags and taking them out to people. Probably the most common thing I’ve seen is folks buying something for someone like at a Starbucks or a restaurant and sharing message.”

Doug’s own random acts of kindness include purchasing donuts for three families whose children he taught in Sunday school. Doug has also purchased gift cards from Starbucks to give to people in remembrance of Molly.

A verse in the Bible that people use frequently for bad things is Romans 8:28, ‘God will use all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purposes. That doesn’t mean that all things are good. We all know that’s not true, but we do know that God can use anything for good if we get on board with him. That’s really what we wanted to do. –Doug Griffin

Doug recounts Molly’s ability to balance social life with academics and encourages all students to do the same. According to Griffin, Molly became good friends with many of Fresno Christian girl’s basketball players despite her lacking athletic abilities.   

“The fact that she was able to balance a really active social life here as a student along with taking her studies very seriously,” Griffin said. “She really grew spiritually while she was here. Those are three things any student could aspire to do. One of the things that was really fun for me is that she became friends with all the girls on the basketball team. One of the players, Emily Krieghoff was in the car with her the night of the accident and nearly died.”

Clovis Hills Community Church sponsored a concert a second consecutive concert in memory of Molly. Christian band Citizen Way performed at both concerts with the proceeds funding a scholarship endowment benefiting teens who want to partake in mission trips or camps. The Griffin family also created scholarship funds at Clovis Community College and Fresno State. 

“Last year and this year, our church, Clovis Hills, sponsored a concert in her memory,” Griffin continued. “The group Citizen Way came this year and last year and one of the great things about the concert is that the proceeds from it go to help fund a scholarship endowment that we established at the church that allows teens to go on mission trips and to camp.

“That’s a really cool thing,” Griffin continued. “We also started scholarship funds both at Clovis Community College where she attended and at Fresno State for nursing students. I love how she’s impacted the community of Christ particularly here at Fresno Christian and the broader community.”

During Doug’s process of grieving for Molly and in Molly Day remembrances since, he relied on two stories from the Bible to remind him of God’s plan for Molly and him. The book of Job describes the trials of Job, a man who was tested by God but remained faithful despite hardship. In the Gospel of John, John writes about the story of Lazarus who died and was resurrected by Jesus.

“There are two verses that I have leaned on. One not too surprising, is out of Job,” Griffin said. “Where when Job is in the midst of his suffering and his wife said, ‘Why don’t you curse God and die?’ Job says, ‘Are we to only to accept the good from God and not the bad as well?’ That helps me with the intellectual aspect of it. For the emotional side I go back to Jesus and the raising of Lazarus.

“If you read the account of it, it is very clear that Jesus knew exactly what he was going to do,” Griffin continued. “The people came and asked him to come and heal Lazarus and he didn’t because he knew he had something bigger in store. Yet knowing all of that, as he entered the town and Lazarus’s sisters came to him with others who were weeping, you find the shortest verse in the Bible, ‘Jesus wept.’ He wept knowing what he was going through because he had so much compassion for those that were hurting. That’s how I see it.”

After overcoming the loss of his daughter, Doug believes that no formula exists for dealing with grief. Doug encourages those who are grieving to deal with the emotions that come about during the process and find someone who has gone through a similar situation to talk to. For friends consoling a grieving friend, Griffin feels that their presence holds more significance than anything else.

While Molly Day is celebrated annually on Aug. 26, always remember to live like Molly and engage in your community through random acts of kindness and use #LiveLikeMolly. 

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This author can be reached via twitter @SamKCross and via email: Samuel Cross.