Albert Griffin and his pedicycle-drawn calliope

Albert Devereux Griffin, Jr., is hardly your typical engineer. At 80 years of age, he can be found body surfing at Orange County beaches or kicking up his heels at a Dixieland dance. A while back, Griffin was thrown out of a parade in San Juan Capistrano thanks to the scantily-clad “Lady Godiva” who was riding in the back seat of his electric-powered pedicycle, accompanied by “one hundred year-old music” from Griffin’s portable calliope.

Perhaps only someone with impeccable engineering credentials could get away with such colorful behavior.“My brother, Bill Griffin (BSCE ’50), also graduated from USC Engineering,” says Griffin, “and our father, Al Sr., was a famous civil engineer who invented the freeway. He designed the very first freeway in the United States — the Arroyo Seco, now known as the Pasadena Freeway, which launched California as the national leader in freeway development.”

“Dad’s first highway design of note was the traffic circle in Long Beach,” Griffin adds. “Because it was before its time, many people got on it going in the wrong direction, and some were killed or badly injured. My dad was threatened with lawsuits many times. He also designed the famous four-level intersection where the Pasadena, Harbor, Hollywood and Santa Ana freeways meet near downtown L.A. He created a reverse cloverleaf design that didn’t take up as much space as traditional intersections. Everyone told him it would never work, but it still does.”

Griffin recalls his days at USC with pleasure. He was a transfer student from Los Angeles City College, where he admits he was nearly flunking out. “Once at USC, though, I really took my engineering studies seriously, and quickly pulled my grade average up to a B.” Following Griffin’s first year at USC, he signed up for the U.S. Navy’s V-12 training program, a collaboration with universities across the U.S. that was designed to produce well-trained, intelligent Naval surface line officers for World War II. “I had to be a very serious student,” Griffin says. “It was a demanding course of study.”

In spite of the rigors of wartime education, Griffin made sure he enjoyed a full undergraduate experience at USC. “In my first year,” he says, “I pledged the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. I competed in swimming and in gymnastics, where I performed on the still and flying rings, coming up second in the all-city competition.”

“My most fond recollections of USC Engineering are of Professor David Wilson,” Griffin says. “He made difficult engineering concepts easy for us to understand. He was affectionately patient with some of us, not proceeding ahead until we understood what he had presented up to that point. I stayed in touch with him long after graduation, through his fall and recovery, and for awhile I was a member of the David Wilson Associates.”

Griffin is grateful for the opportunity to study at USC. “To have attended USC and graduated in difficult times, in a field recognized to be challenging, gives me great pride,” he says. “I often felt the envy of my colleagues who graduated from less prestigious universities. I am sure that my USC degree was a major reason I was offered some of the fine jobs I have had.”

Upon graduating from USC, Griffin was ordered to the Naval Officer Candidates School at Camp Endicott in Rhode Island. Following that training, he was commissioned as an Ensign in the Civil Engineer Corps.

After the war, Griffin oversaw construction of the South Laguna Sanitary District sewer collection and disposal system, and did so well that he was later named district manager. “But my crowning achievement,” Griffin says, “was being named facilities engineer for the Marine Corps Air Station at El Toro. I held the highest general service rank on base, and was also responsible for Marine Corps bases at Camp Pendleton, Station H in Tustin, and Yuma, Arizona.” Griffin retired from this position 29 years ago.

Griffin has been married, divorced, and raised four daughters. He has stayed active in several of USC’s Orange County alumni organizations and occasionally takes trips with the Trojan Travelers. He had a grand time at his 50th reunion in 1995. “We had so much fun, reminiscing about the past.Many of us were in the Navy’s V-12 program, and it was wonderful to be able to share our stories.We’d definitely like to come back to campus in 2005, to celebrate our 60th reunion!”

Through the years Griffin has made sure that he stays in touch with the School of Engineering. “Ted McConville (BSCE ’43) has been very good about sponsoring the David Wilson Associates events in Orange County each year. Lots of young engineers attend, many of them ladies. I think it’s great!”

Griffin is equally enthusiastic about his numerous hobbies. “I was a lifeguard when I was younger, and I love the ocean, so body surfing is a real pleasure,” he says, adding modestly that “You know, I’m not the only one from my era — my good friend Arthur Beard (BSCE ’46) still board surfs in San Clemente with his kids!”

Griffin’s other interests include the aforementioned Dixieland dancing, singing and playing the piano, organ and calliope. “After I retired,” he explains, “I took a trip on the Mississippi Queen and heard my first calliope. I fell in love with the look and the sound, so when I got home I bought a trailer-mounted calliope with keyboard and music roll. Then when I was at the Embarcadero in San Francisco, I purchased a pedicycle so I could tow the calliope, which weighed a ton. I got a really good deal: the pedicycle had been made in Bangkok and was designed to carry Asian passengers. The American owner could only fit in one Western passenger at a time, so he sold it to me for only $300! I added an electric wheel chair motor, so it would look like I was pedaling even when I was taking it easy.”

Griffin would play his pedicycle-drawn calliope at circuses, carnivals and parades near his home town of Dana Point, treating audiences to a grand repertoire of old-time tunes. He often invited a shapely young bikini-clad beauty to ride in the back seat of the pedicycle, dressed as Lady Godiva in a long blonde wig. “We were the hit of the parades,” he laughs, “especially when the wind blew!” (Of course, the parade organizer from San Juan Capistrano might differ with this assessment.)

“I’m not your typical engineer,” Griffin admits, “But I feel I am not boring. I enjoy working with people, I’m active, and I have a sense of humor. Perhaps I should have considered a different career,” he muses, only half-seriously. However, with his enthusiasm for USC and his enduring good humor, Griffin provides a delightful example of how much fun life can be when you’re a USC Engineering alumnus.