Buddy Holly historian Bill Griggs died Tuesday at the age of 69, following a long and painful bout with cancer.
He was renowned as an authority on Holly, founding the Buddy Holly Memorial Society in 1975, and later, a corresponding magazine. The Society would grow to encompass all 50 states with hundreds of members.
Griggs' crowning achievement is a five-book set, "Buddy Holly Day-By-Day", a work of international recognition so meticulous it accounts for all but 12 days of Holly's tragically short career.
"He has done a lot to raise the profile of Buddy Holly, the Buddy Holly Center and, by extension, the city of Lubbock," Buddy Holly Center curator Jacqueline Bober told us in 2010, when Griggs was being inducted into the West Texas Walk of Fame.
Griggs told us then, "to know I'll have a plaque long after I'm gone makes me so happy."
His plaque will be unveiled with the Holly statue in their new location at the Buddy and Maria Elena Holly Plaza in the coming weeks.
