Jeannette Schaefer was at an auction.  So was Tanya Hudgel Griffith.  Little did they know that Tanya’s purchase of an old steamer trunk would set Tanya on a life-long career that took her around the world!  But first… a little about Tanya, and her husband, the Rev. Bill Griffith.

Rev. Griffith and his wife Tanya were at Willoughby Hills Methodist Church from 1 July 1959 until 30 June 1966 — the longest pastorate for WHMC to that point.  It was a time of growth and activity, both in the congregation and in society as a whole.  While Rev. Griffith was leading the congregation in worship and fellowship activities such as the chicken barbecues and Camp Klein events, he was also involved with the sponsorship of the Brice family (Cuban refugees) and civil rights activities such as rehabilitation of housing after the Hough Riots in Cleveland and participation in the Murray Hill march in protest of Cleveland school issues.  Tanya taught Sunday School, was a life member of the Women’s Society for Christian Service, attending District meetings as a Conference officer as well as local events.  Both also had family responsibilities during these years, as they had young children (Mark, Gregg, and Ginna) and moved in and out of three different parsonage locations with them!  As Rev. Griffith summarized in a  10 February 1994 letter to WHUMC, “We were young; most of the leaders were young; most everyone was in debt of some kind, but we were a church.”

Tanya Hudgel was born in Muncie, Indiana on 26 June 1931.  As a young woman, she considered becoming a lawyer, but having married William Dudley (Bill) Griffith on 20 June 1953 in Ohio, she put those plans aside.  (Bill Griffith was born on 19 November 1930 in Cleveland and had been a boxer as a young man as well as worked on Great Lakes freighters.). The couple first lived in Chicago where Bill was a student pastor at Christ Methodist Church, but then returned to his hometown of Cleveland as he pastored at Zion/Union Avenue Methodist Church from 1956 until they came to Willoughby Hills Methodist Church in 1959.  Later pastorates would take them to Geneva (Ohio) UMC from 1966 until 1971; Macedonia (Ohio) UMC from 1971 to 1977; Church of the Savor in Canton, Ohio from 1977 to 1984; UMC of Chagrin Falls, Ohio from 1984 to 1987; and Willowbrook UMC in Sun City, Arizona from 1987 until Bill’s retirement in 1998.  

So how did Tanya become an acclaimed actress?  Rev. Griffith answered part of that question in his 1994 letter:  “Tanya began her career of one woman shows with your [WHMC’s] support and inspiration.”  Additionally, a 1975 Akron Beacon Journal article recounted, “She started public speaking eight years ago after getting involved in devotions at church and book reviews.”  

But a bigger part of the answer is the discovery of a certain woman’s trunk.  As Jeannette Schaefer recalled, she and Tanya attended an auction at the former home of Faye Barber in Willoughby Hills.  They spied an old steamer trunk and Tanya purchased it for one dollar.  Returning home, Tanya opened the trunk, only to discover that it had belonged to someone named “Cassie Chadwick” and that the vintage clothing that she found within fit Tanya perfectly!

So who was Cassie Chadwick? Perhaps the better question is — who was she at which moment in time?  Called “the queen of the cons” she was a Cleveland swindler from the early 1900s until she was “brought to justice in 1905.”  At various points, Cassie pretended to be the heir of wealthy London parents, Madame Lydia De Vere, or an illegitimate daughter of Andrew Carnegie, married three times, and swindled millionaires and over 20 banks from Ohio to the Atlantic coast!  A 17 November 1982 article about Tanya’s portrayal of Cassie included a very detailed history of Cassie’s life.  

“Cassie… was born in 1850 to a railroad worker in Ironwood, Ontario, and lived most of her life in Ohio, and died sometime after 1907 in the old Ohio Penitentiary.  During her life, she changed her name whenever necessary and managed to swindle more than $20 million from people in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York before she was caught.”

Tanya called her program, “Cassie Chadwick: Queen of the Cons”  or “Cassie Chadwick, Queen of Female Swindlers,” and performed it hundreds of times.  At least in the early years, she performed in a costume that actually belonged to Cassie, including a long black gown and a pair of black shoes that Cassie purchased at Higbee’s in 1902.  She capped off those items with a long black gloves and black hat imported from Paris in 1903!

Tanya brought many skills and abilities that allowed her to create an accurate portrayal of Cassie and — later — over 200 different famous women..  A number of newspaper articles note that she had a lifelong love of reading and writing and was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University.  Her photographic memory was also of great help, especially as she expanded her repertoire.  Development of each new character could take Tanya as long as two years!

 Just a few of her portrayals included the Queen Mum (Queen Elizabeth’s mother), Lucy Hayes, Georgia O’Keeffe, Hedda Hopper, Maria Callas, Susan B Anthony, Sacajawea, Alice Roosevelt Longworth, Victoria Woodhull, Ethel Barrymore, Emily Dickinson, Queen Victoria, Aimee Semple McPherson, Isadora Duncan, Pearl Buck, the Duchess of Windsor (Wallis Warfield Simpson), Bess Truman, Carry Nation, Mary Queen of Scotts, Ida McKinley, Margaret Mitchell, Amelia Earhart, and as a 17 April 2002 Port Clinton News-Herald article concluded, “… just about any other famous woman in history.”  In that same article, Tanya herself was noted as stating, “‘It takes more than acting and a costume… It takes extensive research, and an ability to respond to audience questions the way the actual person would.’”  Tanya did all her own research and composed her own scripts.  At times, she would read as many as 20 books to obtain background information on the women she portrayed.  She often traveled to her subjects’ hometowns and grave sites, as well as reviewing existing diaries and personal letters, and interviewing descendants .  Her goal was to provide “more intimate, personal portraits” than might be found in history books.  As she mentioned in a 1993 Arizona Republic article, “‘I’m essentially a storyteller.’”  Age never became an object for Tanya, as she quipped in a 1995 newspaper article in the Arizona Republic newspaper  that she planned to continue to perform into her 80s.  And, in another article, indicated that as Ingrid Bergman noted, “There is always some old witch you can play.”

Surprisingly, when asked about stage fright in a 1995 Arizona Republic newspaper article, Tanya replied, “Every time.  I get sick and think I’m going to throw up.  I can’t remember my lines.  Part of my head tells myself that I’ve been doing this for 30 years and have never gotten sick or forgotten my lines.”  She also noted in that same article that, despite often providing emotional portrayals, she worked hard to stay in control.  As she noted, “You don’t want to lose control.  I can get back in my car and cry for an hour, though.”

When asked in a 1 January’s 1995 article in the Arizona Republic what was the most difficult character she had portrayed, Tanya replied, “Eleanor Roosevelt, because of the high-pitched voice you have to maintain and Mary Todd Lincoln, because of the highs and lows.”  That her performances were awe inspiring is evidenced by Sandra Ferguson’s comment in a 19 Mary 1996 Baltimore Sun article is which she noted, “‘It’s been said that you can get so caught up in her portrayal of Queen Victoria that you’ll feel the need to curtsy.’”  A 1972 article in The Akron Beacon Journal about her portrayal of Victoria Woodhull stated, “Her [Tanya’s] facial expressions and hands-on-the-hips on punch lines are essential elements of her delivery.  Yet her subject matter, touching as it does on the pathos and sensibilities of her characters as well as humor, brings them and their times to life in other ways.  There are often tears in the eyes of some of her listeners and not long after they’ve been laughing.”

In fact, it seems that Tanya’s portrayals were sometimes more intriguing to reporters than Rev. Griffith’s pastorate!  In a 25 June 1971 article in The Akron Beacon Journal, the notice of Rev.

Griffith’s appointment to Macedonia UMC was noted five sentences into an article that first discussed Tanya’s famed dramatic presentation about Cassie Chadwick!  By 1983, an article in the 15 May 1983 Tribune from Coshocton, Ohio proclaimed that she was “one of the most popular speakers and entertainers in the midwest.”  In fact, just two years earlier, Tanya had been selected as one of Ohio’s famous women in 1981.  She also had been the “first alumna chosen as alumna speaker in 1978 for the Centennial Celebration of Women at Ohio Wesleyan University.”

Promotions and reviews of Tanya’s performances were recorded in innumerable newspaper articles, many available in online newspaper sites.  Often, her performances were part of fundraising events.  A 17 April 2002 article in the Port Clinton News-Herald profiled Tanya’s portrayal of Annie Oakley.  In 1983, she performed at the Cochocton Junior Women’s Club.  She performed in Newark, Ohio in 1982.  In 1996 she was at the Women’s Club of Westminster in Maryland as a fundraiser for the organization’s scholarship fund.  In 1969, she performed at the College Club of Akron.  In 1963, at the Lakeside Woman’s Club in Sandusky.  In 2002, at Trinity United Methodist Church, partly as a fundraiser for church youth to attend the Annual Youth Conference at Lakeside.  In 1991 at the North Canton Chautauqua Festival.  In 1987 at the Beth El Sisterhood luncheon I Akron, Ohio.  In 1981 at Hayes United Methodist Church in Fremont, Ohio.  In 2001 at the College Club of Sharon in Sharon, Pennsylvania.  In 1965 to the Lakewood Woman’s Club.  In 1972 at the Greenville Chapter of the Thiel Woman’s Club in Greenville, Pennsylvania.  

A 1994 article noted that Tanya was undertaking over 200 performances in a year — from church basements to convention halls around the country.   A 1996 article noted that she was “in the middle of an East Coast tour” as, by then, she and her husband were living in Sun City, Arizona.

As grueling as it must have been to perform as one famous women, Tanya sometimes undertook multiple performances in the same day!  A 1995 Arizona Republic article noted that as part of the 25^th Anniversary of Boswell Memorial Hospital and Sun Health, Tanya would portray not one, but three different women over the course of that day’s activities — Elizabeth Blackwell at 9 am; Lillian Wald at 11 am, and Florence Nightingale at 1 pm!   Similarly, in 1987 she had presented a program called, “The Best of Tanya Griffith,” in which she portrayed “Golda Meir, Eleanor Roosevelt, Hedda Hopper and other prominent women” for a luncheon at Beth El Synagogue, with proceeds used for their religious education program.

Additionally, one newspaper article mentioned a co-presentation with another actress.  In 2009, she performed with Sharon Collar in a portrayal of Ann Landers and Dear Abby at Desert Palms Presbyterian Church!

When asked about her somewhat out-of-the-ordinary career considering her status as a Methodist pastor’s wife, she replied in a 1995 article, “I suppose that’s true [that I wasn’t a “traditional minister’s wife”].  I haven’t ever been, in the way that we used to think of them.  I was saved from that because we always had churches in urban areas.  City people tend to be more sophisticated.  But I’m very involved with my church and would be even if my husband weren’t [a] minister.”  

By 2016, she had portrayed famous women for over 40 years.  With her performing years ended, people were still fascinated by her portrayals, and the Del Webb Sun Cities Museum honored her with a reception where Tanya exhibited some of her favorite costumes and hats and greeted visitors.   On 12 April 2017, Tanya passed away, with her husband, Bill, passing away just a few months later.  Tanya and Bill had been married for 63 years.  The United Methodist Church publication “In Memoriam and Roll of Honored Dead: 2017 Desert Southwest Conference” noted, “Tanya Griffith shared ministry with her husband, Rev. Dr. Bill Griffith, for 45 years before he retired in 1998.  She was known to many for her popular portrayals of famous women.  Her performances raised tens of thousands of dollars for local organizations and throughout the nation.”

In 2018 (a year after Tanya’s death), the website of Willowbrook United Methodist Church noted on their Women’s Ministries page (http://www.willowbrookumc.org/woman’s-ministries/), “The group has been blessed in recent years by a series of dramatic portrayals of famous women by Tanya Griffith, a celebrated actress and dramatist.  This has enabled the UMW to contribute approximately $115,000 for missions and other charitable causes over the last 9 years.”

Tanya Hudgel Griffith may not have been a “traditional minister’s wife” but by portraying famous (and sometimes infamous) women, her skills and abilities provided significant funding for ministries around the world.   As it says in Romans 12:4-8 (NIV):

“For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.  We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.  If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving then give generously, if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.”

God’s gifts to Tanya may have been unusual for a pastor’s wife of that time period, but her recognition and use of them demonstrated her fearlessness and devotion to His call.  Which should lead all of us to consider, “What gifts has God given to me and how am I using them for His purposes?”