Newspaper columnist Otis Griffin to share stories

Posted: Tuesday, November 30, 2010 9:44 pm
By: Glenda Caudle, Special Features Editor

Otis Griffin

By GLENDA CAUDLE
Special Features Editor
Well, “Glory!”
“Southern Raisin’” has moved from a weekly appearance as a good ol’ boys column in southwest Tennessee newspapers to collected copies bound and offered for sale in book format at www.amazon.com and in select book stores.
Author Otis Griffin of Millington lived for a time in Union City, where he worked for Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. He  raised two sons in this area — Mike, who died tragically of diabetes about 10 years ago — and Mark — who played basketball at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
Griffin will be in Union City to sign copies of his book at the Obion County Public Library Saturday from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. The newly-released book sells for $19.95, with Griffin and his wife, Glenda, donating a dollar from each sale to St. Louis Unit, Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children. Copies will be available for purchase at the library.
Griffin closes each of his folksy columns with the distinctive sign-off “Glory!” His columns are about what he knows best: growing up in his beloved South, where there were greased pig contests at county fairs and Saturday matinees that were all you could hope for and a handful more, where mamas could see around corners and hear through solid walls and where every day was a true interactive adventure that depended on flesh and blood people sharing the fun with you.
Griffin attended Union University in Jackson on a sports scholarship and earned his master’s degree from the University of Tennessee at Martin. He has a soft spot in his heart for the Shriners, on whose behalf he has labored for years, and he wants them to share in the success of his literary endeavor. With several book signings already under his belt, the story-teller extraordinaire will bring some measure of expertise but far more genuine folksy good will to his local event.
So order your copy of “Southern Raisin’” right now from Amazon or plan to pick up a copy at the signing and indulge yourself (if you share common memories) or discover a time and place that may be an unexplored part of your social heritage (if you were born post-Roy Rogers.) If you fit in neither category, prepare to find out what you’ve missed.
In any event, you’ll find it a “Glory”ous experience.

Published in The Messenger 11.30.10

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