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Orem Elementary School Principal Ryan Rocque, right, runs with students during a benefit run for teacher Jennie Griffith on Monday, Nov. 14, 2022. Griffith taught first grade at the school and died from cancer on Nov. 4.

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald

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Jim and Kylie Griffith pose for a photo at Orem Elementary School on Monday, Nov. 14, 2022. Jim and Kylie are the husband and daughter of Jennie Griffith, a first grade teacher at the school who died from cancer on Nov. 4.

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald

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Orem Elementary School students participate in a benefit run for teacher Jennie Griffith on Monday, Nov. 14, 2022. Griffith taught first grade at the school and died from cancer on Nov. 4.

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald

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Orem Elementary School students participate in a benefit run for teacher Jennie Griffith on Monday, Nov. 14, 2022. Griffith taught first grade at the school and died from cancer on Nov. 4.

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald

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To Jim and Kylie Griffith, Jennie Griffith was a loving wife and mother.

To Cris Vera, Orem Elementary School’s head custodian, she was a great person and one of the best teachers the school has ever had.

To first grade teacher Lauri Saffell, she was the mentor with a positive attitude. “She always had her students’ best interests in mind. She loved them and they knew it,” Saffell said. “When she had difficult students, she loved them and never gave up on them. She truly was a great example of what teaching is all about.”

To Becky Conover, second grade teacher, she was a dedicated and caring colleague and friend. “She had such a positive attitude even when things were hard. ‘We got this’ was something she said every day and lived it,” Conover said.

According to Ryan Rocque, OES’s first-year principal, Jennie Griffith was family to the whole staff and a beloved member of the school community. Griffith died Nov. 4 due to bile duct cancer.

“It’s hard to lose someone that you’ve loved so much for 18 years,” said Jim Griffith, Jennie’s husband. Their daughter, Kylie, is in the ninth grade now at Lakeridge Junior High School.

Jennie Griffith was a first grade teacher at Orem Elementary and had been on staff for the past 17 years, helping hundreds of students along the way.

She had just been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer a few months earlier, teaching only the first day of this school year before stepping aside.

On Nov. 14, administrators, teachers and the PTA held a fun run. Early plans were to have students run laps around the school field for donations, with the money intended to be given to the Griffith family and used for treatment. After Jennie’s sudden death, the school changed it to a benefit run.

The benefit run started at the beginning of the school day with kindergartners, then the first, second and third grade students running for just over 30 minutes apiece. After their lunches, it was afternoon kindergarteners who participated before the fourth, fifth and sixth grade students took to the field.

All students were encouraged to wear purple, Jennie Griffith’s favorite color, and the route was decorated with purple balloons. Donation envelopes were sent home with students wherein parents marked how much they were willing to donate per lap.

Waiting at the starting/finish line was a group of volunteers from the PTA and different teachers, ready to mark on students’ wristbands how many laps they completed.

Brittany Przybyla, president-elect of the Orem Elementary PTA, said the group wanted to find a way to show their support to the Griffith family.

“We decided on a school event. We really wanted a chance for the kids to show their support and their love and help raise a little money for (the Griffith) family to help with bills and things,” Przybyla said. “None of my kids actually had Mrs. Griffith, but she’s been at the school for 17 years. She’s been a huge influence. Everybody knows her, everybody loves her. She was a great teacher.”

Also helping out at the benefit run were Jim and Kylie Griffith, chatting and receiving well-wishes from students and teachers they’ve known for years.

With money still coming in, Rocque said about $7,000 has so far been raised for the Griffith family through the benefit run. He estimates the final accumulation could be around $9,000 or $10,000.

Rocque said the money is “going to help them with their funeral expenses, it’s going to help them with all of the medical expenses, not to mention having to transition to one less provider in the home.”

Additionally, friends set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for a funeral and medical expenses. As of Nov. 17, over $11,000 had been donated.

Even after her death, Jennie Griffith was making a difference and showing students how much she cared. Rocque explained that after she passed away, over 100 stuffed animals she accumulated through the years were cleaned and passed out to former students.

For now, family and friends will keep moving forward, honoring Jennie’s life and making her proud.

“We just have to do it one day at a time,” Jim Griffith said.

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