April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
BRIDGES AND CLASSROOMS
Engineer's career spans decades
"They're a mirror to our past," he said. "You're always impressed by how much [engineers] did with so little. They just used ingenuity and hard work. Society shouldn't lose its artifacts."
Mr. Griggs' life's work as a civil engineer has included restoring historic bridges. His career sprung from a simple directive by his father, but a recent award shows that his work was meant to be.
Mr. Griggs, a parishioner of Immaculate Conception Church in Glenville, was just honored as a distinguished member of the American Society of Civil Engineers - a title only bestowed on 615 individuals in the past 159 years.
A handful of honorees are selected each year. They must be nominated by local sections of the society, approved by the national organization and reach "eminence" in a branch of the field.
Family and parish community members have already joked about referring to Mr. Griggs as "your eminence."
"Father Jerry picked right up on that," Mr. Griggs laughed, referring to Rev. Jerome Gingras, pastor of Immaculate Conception.
Mr. Griggs earned four degrees at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, ending with a doctorate in civil engineering in 1967. He has taught generations of civil engineers at several colleges in the northeast, written more than 100 articles on the history of the profession and restored historic bridges for an Albany consulting firm.
But the impetus for his career didn't come from him.
"My father told me I was going to grow up and go to RPI and do civil engineering," Mr. Griggs remembered. "So I did."
His teaching career included Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, Union College in Schenectady and RPI. He spent a total of 24 years at Catholic Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass., as a professor, vice president for academic affairs and college dean.
After an early retirement in 1995, Mr. Griggs continued teaching and also restored bridges for pedestrian use in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, western New York and the Capital District.
His favorite structure is the Whipple Bridge at Vischer Ferry Nature and Historic Preserve in Clifton Park, an 1869 cast iron and wrought iron bridge originally erected across the Erie Canal in Sprakers. It was moved to Johnstown in the early 1900s.
Mr. Griggs has restored five bridges constructed by Squire Whipple, a Union College graduate and engineer who invented two new truss designs in the late 1800s.
"They were the first scientifically-designed bridges," Mr. Griggs explained. "Prior to that, it was all rule-of-thumb."
In his spare time, Mr. Griggs has served as a parish council member, lector, catechist, choir member and extraordinary minister of the Eucharist. He participated as one of the first non-clergy members of the Boston Archdiocesan Synod in the late 1980s.
A Distinguished Eagle Scout, Mr. Griggs has served the Boy Scouts of America as a Scoutmaster for 25 years. He also volunteers with Residents Encounter Christ, a Catholic ministry to people in prison.[[In-content Ad]]
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