Veda Ladrene Griffin

Veda Ladrene Griffin, 76, passed away Friday, August 4, 2023 at St. Francis-Emory Healthcare.

A memorial service will be held 11:00 AM Saturday, August 12, 2023 in the chapel of McMullen Funeral Home and Crematory with Rev. Michael Grant, officiating. The family will receive friends following the service at the funeral home, 3874 Gentian Blvd. Columbus, GA 31907.

Veda was born March 31, 1947 in Nashville, TN to the late David Claude McFarland and Mary Louise Weisman. She attended high school at Los Angeles High School as the class of 1968, and then went on Los Angeles Southwest College, and then onto attend the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA,) where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Nursing. After college, she enjoyed a long and fulling career as a Registered Nurse, and eventually earned her Master’s Degree in Nursing from the University of Phoenix in 2006.

Veda lived a life full of love and stewardship. She had a calling to serve people. For nearly 40 years, she served her community as a Nurse. She spent many years in the Labor and Delivery Department at the world-renowned Cedar Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. She also worked at Martin Luther King Memorial Hospital, Kaiser Permanente, and the Los Angeles Department of Public Health. While working for LADPH, she worked at the Hubert Humphrey Health Center and the Curtis R. Tucker Health Center.

During her tenure as a Public Health Nurse, one of her favorite parts of the job was being able to meet people where they were in life, be able to provide treatment, at no cost, to help those who were underserved. Frequently, her job required her to travel to shelters or homes of people that needed treatment, to conduct exams, give her patients health education and dispense prescribed medication. She’d also teach classes on hand washing and preventing communicable diseases to the public, including at daycare centers to school children, church and other community events.

Veda was also a God-loving Christian woman who believed service didn’t just stop during the work week, but also extended to her church family as well. She would serve many years as a part of her church’s Nursing Guild, at Apostolic Faith Home Assembly, where she would also meet many of her life- long friends, including her best friend, and her children’s Godmother, Bonita Anne Rosser.

After retirement, Veda settled in Columbus, GA, with her daughters, Ariel, Leyla and Vanessa, where she enjoyed a slower paced life, and where she would welcome her 6 grandchildren, while also opening and sharing her home to many other foster children she gave her love and care to. She attended her Columbus home church, Faith Worship Center International locally, and was in her church’s Nursing Guild as well.

Veda joins her mother Mary, her baby sister, her former spouse and friend, Henry Griffin, and her best friend Bonita, who preceded her.

She is survived by her daughters Ariel Hillard (Larry), Leyla Kosakowski (David), and Vanessa Gil; her grandchildren, Mae Hillard, Darion Hillard, Adrionna Griffin, Sayuri Griffin, Jayla Griffin, and Michael Griffin.