We don’t usually post this sort of stuff here, but…

Elva M. MacMillan: 1920 – 2008

Prepared by Larry & Joanne Smith and read by Joanne Smith.

Elva Griffin MacMillan died peacefully at home on Sunday, July 6, at the age of 87.

It was just a few weeks ago that she accompanied a group of us on a shopping spree to Goodfellow Farms, announcing that it would be her last excursion.

Prior to that road trip Elva went along with her only daughter, Joanne, to almost every social get-together. She enjoyed a front row seat at these events and was able to soak up a lot of gossip.

Elva herself was an only child. She was the daughter of Wilbert Griffin “squire” land owner and gentleman farmer and Gwendolyn Pyfrom, both of Governor’s Harbour, Eleuthera.

The Griffins share a celtic ancestry, with separate branches of the family originating in Ireland, Wales and Cornwall. They arrived from Virginia in 1787 after the signing of the Declaration of Independence The Pyfroms are of German descent and arrived in Eleuthera with the Eleutheran Adventurers.

Elva and her four best friends were home schooled by the Methodist minister until she was 17. Having come of age, she left Governor’s Harbour for the bright lights of Nassau.

After landing her first job at the old Roselda Hotel, the Second World War began, and Elva subsequently moved to the Royal Victoria Hotel as a bookkeeper. Nassau began filling up with American, Canadian and British forces, and the Royal Vic was one of the centres of nightlife at the time. It was an exciting period for an island girl.

After the war, the Bahamian economy began to expand and Elva met her future husband. In 1948 Bob MacMillan was posted to Nassau from New Brunswick by the Royal Bank of Canada. He and Elva married on October 31, 1950.

She trained with the first chartered accountant’s firm in Nassau Andree and Fingland and until her retirement in 1988, Elva held a variety of bookkeeping positions in Nassau. She was an active member of the IODE, a Canadian institution, which was founded as an organization dedicated to education, patriotism, and charity.

Elva lived with Bob in Nassau until his death in 1993, when she moved in with her daughter, Joanne, and son-in-law, Rick. Other surviving relatives include Kay Winchester, her sister-in-law who lives in Dalhousie, New Brunswick.

Elva lived a happy and healthy life until she fell in her apartment a few weeks ago after suffering a stroke. We will all miss her quiet presence especially at Christmas and get-togethers.

Many thanks to all the freinds and family that expressed their condolences and particularly those that helped Joanne make it through the last few days a little easier.