Helen Griffith

Helen Elizabeth "Betty" Griffith

March 10, 1916 - October 12, 2015

Betty Griffith passed away peacefully and at her home in Hillsborough, California on Monday October 12, 2015. She was 99 years old.

She was one of the vanishing breed known as "America's Greatest Generation" a lifelong resident of San Francisco and a longtime participant in many charitable causes.

Betty, who was born in Oakland, California to Gilbert Webber Atkinson and Helen Larson Atkinson was christened Helen Elizabeth Atkinson. Betty grew up in Piedmont, went to the University of California and became a member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority.

She met and married Edward McConnell Griffith in January 1940 and lived and worked with him until his death 70 years later on the 14th of October 2010. Theirs was truly a life-long partnership.

They had three sons, Peter, their middle child, who died in a car accident in 1966; Thomas who died in 2012. Survived by their youngest, Richard, and his wife, the former Mary Denney, residents of Burlingame.

Betty had four grandchildren and loved them all as family was always very important to her; Charles Lord Griffith III and Millen Griffith VI who were sons of Thomas and Susan Hackett Griffith, Caroline Griffith Hobbs and Taylor Atkinson Griffith, the daughter and son of Richard.

And she had five great grandchildren: Harris Matthew, Ellison Hackett, Charles Lord Griffith IV and Theodore Hollister, Abigail Emilie and Helen Elizabeth Hobbs.

Betty's was a life well lived; born just before the "Roaring Twenties", she survived the Great Depression and held the family together during the Second World War while Ted served as a Naval Officer in the South Pacific.

After the war Betty and Ted started Regency House in 1947, an interior design company that serviced the growing needs of interior designers as the economy boomed after the World War. Regency House represented Brunschwig et Fils, Fortuny and many other decorative arts manufacturers. Regency House also designed, manufactured and imported furniture and fixtures from Italy. Outside of Florence they bought and remodeled Villa L'Acciaio that served as a comfortable and elegant destination on the Continent for many of their friends and family.

The success of Regency House was due to their unique sense of design and understanding of market needs and tastes.

Betty especially was noted for her exquisite taste and sense of fashion influenced by her mother Helen. Betty served as Chairman of the San Francisco Opera Guild as well as Chairman for the Opera Ball and Fol de Rol; she was active in fund raising for both the San Francisco Symphony and Children's Hospital. She also served on the original Women's Board of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and was a long time contributing member of the San Francisco Junior League.

Betty, as was Ted, were avid skiers. Over the years they owned houses first on the Truckee River at Squaw Valley and subsequently in Sun Valley. As was their wont, they had many visitors and always shared their good fortune with their friends. Betty was ever the gracious hostess and loved to entertain whether the location was Florence, San Francisco, Squaw Valley or Sun Valley.

She was a member of the Villa Taverna Club and the Burlingame Country Club.

She will be greatly missed.

A private memorial service will be held; contributions in her honor may be made to the charity of your choice.