All about David Justin Huff
submitted by: Bethany Gordon
SUP CC Chapter 4th Grade Ancestor Awards |
by Bethany Gordon
Third Place Fiddler's Elementary
My grandfather's name is David Justin Huff. My grandfather is seventy-three years old.
He was born in Spanish Fork Utah. He had five siblings, four brothers and one sister. He was the youngest of six kids; his siblings' names were Marlin, Paul, Sherm, Sherrie, and Keith. As a child he grew up on a farm, he had to feed all the animals and he would do chores. He had a garden out back with lots of crops. He had a family dog that lived on the farm. Once he had two horses and one of them was a baby colt. He had to feed it milk when it's mother had no milk. He would whinny like a horse when it was time to feed the baby to get the horse to come to him. He played with the neighborhood kids and also with his two brothers Paul and Keith and they taught him how to play baseball.
My grandfather was a school teacher at Spanish Fork Junior High. He liked to work with kids, being indoors where it wasn't cold, and teaching band, mathematics, history, geography, English, life skills, and Chinese. He taught these things to eighth and ninth graders. His favorite subject was to teach geography because "geography is where it's at!" He taught for forty-one years, all at Spanish Fork Junior High School. He stayed there because he liked it a lot! He taught some of the kids' grandkids. He was there for all or part of six decades. He was a student in the 60's and finished in the teen's of the 2000's.
One student he taught was blind. It was fun to teach him. The student who was blind wrote a nice note in braille and gave it to my grandpa at the end of the year. My grandpa still has the note. Some students couldn't speak English and he found a way to teach them anyway. Another student who couldn't speak English at the beginning of the year had the highest grades in geography. He got the highest grade by paying close attention in class.
He was a bishop in his community. He played the clarinet and the violin in a community orchestra for 19 years! He also helped coach softball teams with my grandma.
My grandpa is dependable, funny, and a jokester. When I asked him about his qualities he told me this, "I'm vertically challenged, horizontally gifted, and scalped enhanced." He likes to speak like Donald Duck, and he tells funny jokes.
He was the teacher of the year a couple of times at the school he taught at! He was an outstanding teacher and mentor teacher. He helped teachers improve and was a problem solver. He was the favorite substitute teacher for five years after he retired.
One hard thin my grandpa did was he learned Chinese. He overcame it by working hard and studying and paying attention in Chinese class. He still speaks Chinese today.
I have learned all about my grandpa. I am grateful that I got to talk to him on the phone and learn about his life.