Dennis Scott Griggs

TOPSHAM – Dennis S. Griggs, 73 passed away on May 27, 2026 at the Togus V.A. Hospice Home after a protracted decline from ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). Following his request, on Saturday June 6, a small gathering of family and friends met on the shore of Merrymeeting Bay to celebrate his life and to send his ashes to the sea.

Dennis was born on Aug. 27, 1952 to a Navy family at Great Lakes, Ill. and grew up, one of seven children, following his father’s deployments to numerous locations and eventually settling in Northern California, next door to Diana LaVella, the girl he would fall in love with and marry on Nov. 27, 1971. Dennis and Diana were inseparable for the next 55 years and prospered together raising two sons, Neil S. Griggs and Jesse P. Griggs and twin granddaughters, Echo and Whisper Griggs.

Dennis enlisted in the Navy on June 10, 1973 and was trained and served as a photographer. He and Diana settled in Topsham when Dennis was stationed at the Brunswick Naval Air Station. The family gradually moved eastward in town until finally settling on Pleasant Point where Dennis and Diana, mostly by their own skills and efforts, created home. Tannery Hill Studios served as the base for Dennis’ photography business that grew to acclaim. Launches an B.I.W. and museum catalogues were but part of his customer base. Many fortunate friends have a Griggs photograph prominently displayed in their homes.

Of a gregarious nature, Dennis made friends easily and was always ready to share a story or lend a hand. His skills were many and seemed unable to accept that there were things that he could not do. He did a lot! Dennis’ homes, he mostly built himself. Small British sports cars he could restore. He would fell trees, haul them from the woods, mill them with his sawmill and find buyers for the boards. Gardens grew and fruit trees produced under his hands.

When ALS took away Dennis’ ability to talk, he wrote. His interest in his ancestors and years of research provided materials for the story of the Griggs’ who arrived in the 1630’s, fought with the British and against the French, against the British at Bunker Hill, and against the Confederacy at Gettysburg. Dennis put together the story of how Griggs’ steadily moved westward from the Muddy River of Roxbury, Mass. to the California shore and how he, stopped by a great ocean, returned to the east. It seems to have been his nature to do so.