What year did you graduate from Bluffton High School? Did you attend Bluffton schools all of your school years? Where did you live?
I graduated in 1965 and attended Bluffton schools from kindergarten at age four in Mrs. Gratz's class through graduation. Our class was the first class to consolidate with Beaverdam. That was quite a transition, especially for the Beaverdam kids. But because I lived four miles south of town on Schifferly Road, I was almost an equal distance from Beaverdam and already knew some of the kids. Incidently, our home was the homestead of my grandmother, Josephine Niswander Huber.
Share some stories about your childhood -- school-related, funny stuff, teachers, activities, favorite classes, life in a small town.
I started school at age four in Mrs. Gratz's kindergarten class. I remember it vividly. First grade was Miss Stapleton and I remember her well. Second grade was Mrs. Klay and I remember thinking she was so beautiful. I don't remember third grade. I think that is the year we were in the high school while they built the new grade school. Fourth grade through graduation was all about "social life" for me! I loved school, but for the fun, not for the education. My favorite teacher was Mr. Geiger. My favorite classes were all English/Lit classes.
My activities were few because being a "country kid" we didn't get to be involved in much. My favorite memories of activities were choir competitions with Miss Souder as our leader/teacher. She was my big influence on enunciating words. I recently saw her in a Bluffton hair salon, where I had taken my mother, and was able to tell her so. That made me feel really great!
With the weather so "wintry" outside I'm constantly reminded of winters of my childhood in Bluffton. We'd always come to town on Saturday nights for groceries. During the winter, and I think it was the holidays, the merchants would give out ticket stubs and on the last Saturday night of this promotion they would put the winning ticket stubs in the windows. We would walk from window to window and write down the numbers then go to my Grandma's and compare the numbers to our stubs. I don't think we ever won anything, but isn't this the coolest memory? It sounds like something that would still be done in this quaint, wonderful community!
You got married soon after graduation and moved to Hawaii. What do you remember about the differences between living there and here (aside from the obvious temperature differences)? Your husband was in the service -- did you begin working somewhere and/or go to college? How did you adjust to being so far from family and home?
Living in Hawaii was very similar to the way you see it in the movies. We were enlisted army and didn't qualify for base housing, so we lived in an apartment in downtown Waikiki! NOW I realize how fortunate I was. Beach and touristy things to do is what occupied our time. We were there for 18 months and our daughter was born there. She has a small birthmark on her ankle that is just a little darker skin area and we call that the "Hawaii" in her....she loves it!
I worked retail for a while, but most of us "army wives" just hung out! I also was fortunate to have an uncle, who was retired Navy, who lived on the island, so we had some family nearby. I do remember being very happy to return to Ohio.
Along the way you had children...how many? Where are they now? How many grandchildren do you have now and where are they?
Unfortunately, this marriage ended in divorce, but not before we had three beautiful children. Shari Lyn is 42, and lives in Bryan with her children, Mason 15 and Levi 8, Steven Scott is 39 and lives in Defiance with his wife Tammi and their two daughters, Lexi 9 and Abby 8, Scot Richard is 37 and lives in Hicksville with his wife, Jess, and stepson, Schuylar 15. Pam is my stepdaughter and lives in Sherwood with her husband, Bob, and daughter, Erin, 20. My current husband has two children who live in Toledo and we have two granddaughters: Amanda 20 and Ashley 18.
How long were you in Hawaii before moving to Defiance? It seems like a nice town but like Bluffton, might be hard to move into "from the outside". What did you do there?
I lived in Hawaii for just a year and a half. Upon returning home, we lived in Pandora and Findlay for short periods of time before moving to Defiance around 1969. Like Bluffton, Defiance is a wonderful town, although quite larger. I was fortunate to remarry in 1978 to a local Defiance man, so it was easy to fit in. I worked retail all of my career and in 1987 my husband passed away. By then, I was a manager with JC Penney. Attempting to move on with my life, I transferred to Orlando, Florida with JCP.
You must have enjoyed the warmer climates. Tell me about your life there. Again, you were far from home -- did you return to Ohio for regular visits?
Moving to Florida was like I was beginning a new life. I was leaving behind everything familiar. At the time, my parents were wintering in Florida, so I stayed with them -- an hour from my job -- while I searched for a home. A new job, a new home, no friends, no children....yes, I was very alone! However, Florida is like a magnet and as soon as I moved into my own home, family and Defiance friends were abundant! My brother even lived with me for nine months while he went to school in Orlando. Life was good.....but, after 15 years and marrying a man from Toledo we decided we needed to return to Ohio to be a part of our grandchildrens' lives! Our kids tease us that they couldn't keep us in Ohio, but the grandkids brought us "home"!
I know your mom and sister live in this area, as well as your children and grandchildren, correct? Describe your family.
To describe my family is to say we are "blessed"! My grandparents, uncle's family (Dale Huber) and we all lived within a few miles of each other and we grew up like a typical 50's family with church and Sunday dinners together.
My dad, Berdell Huber, along with friends, Gene Schmidt and Jim Anderson founded the Northwest Ohio Antique Machinery association and restored antique Huber tractors. He passed away nine years ago. My mom, Margie Huber, retired from RCA in Findlay and lived in Florida until I moved back to Ohio. She followed the next summer and now lives on Garmatter St. In October we surprised her with an 85th family birthday party. There were about 40 of us there.
My sister, Anita Augsburger, a '61 BHS grad lived in Colorado for many years, but returned to Bluffton about 12 years ago to be near her husband's parents. She currently works for the Call Center for First National Bank. Her son and daughter also live in Bluffton. My brother, Dick Huber, a '67 BHS grad, lives in Oklahoma. He retired from the Air Force there and owns his own motorcycle shop. His wife and one daughter also are there and one daughter is in Turkey with her Air Force husband. My youngest sister, Joyce, a '72 BHS grad, lives in Arkansas and owns a gift shop and her daughter owns a restaurant/bakery.
I hear that some of your family members were on a float(s) in the Blaze of Lights parade? Tell me about that and the guys in the navy uniforms.
This is our third Christmas parade that we have had the fun of participating in! My sister and I decided that we needed to get our families together more often so that our grandchildren would know each other. Hence, our Thanksmas celebrations began on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Since this is the day of the Bluffton Christmas parade, we all get to participate. The little ones LOVE riding on the float, except for one who likes to watch and get all the thrown candy! This year's theme was "Home for Christmas". My sister remembered my son mentioning that his Navy uniforms no longer fit and that sparked her thought for sailors on the back of a train going home for Christmas. So, my two grandsons and my sister's "grandson" all donned the uniforms and rode the train. They were really cool!
Okay, so now you're living in Toledo. What area are you living in? Where do you work? How is your current location like living here or is it in no way comparable?
Yes, I'm currently living in Toledo, near Airport Highway, so it is easy to catch the expressway and head down 75 to Bluffton. I work at Lourdes College, as assistant manager for the bookstore. I think the only thing about living here that is similar to Bluffton is that I have a church community and a work community that are like little home towns within themselves. Either place benefits me with the wonders of community love.
You mentioned hoping to move back to Bluffton some day. Is that a retirement possibility?
When we were house hunting for my mother, I so wanted to buy in Bluffton for myself. It is the most remarkable little town. The quaintness is unbelievable...almost like the 50's-60's that I remember. Because of my job in Toledo that wasn't feasible. Now, each time we visit, my husband and I comment that we'd love to live in Bluffton. If I ever decide that my working days are over, I think we'll settle there....hopefully within the next couple of years.
Have you kept in touch with old friends from this area over the years? Has Facebook played a part in reconnecting with any of them? How did you get started on that?
I hadn't kept in touch with high school friends. I've tried to find many of them through email and haven't had much luck. A friend from Florida invited me to join Facebook and I haven't gotten off of it since! My grandkids couldn't believe it....they say "first you text us, now you're on Facebook?" I think they think it is pretty cool. We stay in touch so easily this way and I've connected to so many friends through it. I think I found 8-10 classmates over the holidays and connected a lot of them, also. It's just great!!
What kind of hobbies do you enjoy? Are you involved in any club, church or volunteer activities?
My family is my hobby! We do as much as we can with everyone! Having spent 15 years in Florida, we still don't tolerate the winter months very well so we don't get together as much as we'd like. But as soon as the weather turns we'll have lots of grandchildren activities to attend. I'm very active in my church, First Baptist of Greater Toledo, and volunteer as much as possible. As soon as I decide that I'm ready to cut back my hours at my job, I plan to do hospital volunteering. While in Florida, I was the manager of a hospital gift shop and learned the importance of hospital volunteering.
Plans for your future? Learning new things?
I learn something new every day! God wants us to continue to serve him in all aspects of our lives, so I guess my plan for my future is to continue to serve Him to the best of my ability....wherever He leads me!!
