Published: April 14, 2008 10:06 am         

50th Anniversary - Mr. and Mrs. John Huffman

Mr. and Mrs. John M. Huffman of Mineral Wells will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on Sunday, April 20, 2008. A reception will be at First Christian Church, 302 N.W. 6th St. at noon. The children and grandchildren are hosting the reception and cordially invite friends to join the celebration.

They were married April 20, 1958, at First Christian Church in Paris, Mo., where they both grew up and were high school sweethearts.

John, son of the late Roy and Viola Huffman, obtained his engineering degree from the University of Missouri-Rolla. He later served with the Army Corps of Engineers. The couple moved to various places across the United States, including Olive Hill, Ky.; Milledgeville, Ga.; Mineral Wells and Marshall, Texas. They have spent most of their time and lives in Mineral Wells, where over the years John worked for Cantex and other clay product production facilities. During this time, he also earned his Master of Business Administration from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.

Helen, daughter of the late Everett and Dora Arnett, obtained her teaching degree from Truman State University in Kirksville, Mo. Her first teaching job was in a one-room country schoolhouse in Florida, Mo. She taught in each of the states they lived in, and obtained life teaching certificates from each of them, including Kentucky, Georgia, Missouri and Texas. Helen retired from the Mineral Wells Independent School District in 1996, with 33 years of teaching experience.

Although John and Helen are both retired, they enjoy summer employment at various national parks each year. They have spent the last few summers working in Montana, Wyoming and Colorado. When they are home in Mineral Wells, John and Helen are active members of the First Christian Church where they have been members for 44 years.

They have three children: John of Ruidoso, N.M.; Dr. Michelle Gardner, wife of Dr. Jim Gardner, of Caldwell, Idaho; and Howard, husband of Holly, in Mineral Wells. There are seven grandchildren: Nathanael Huffman, Zachary Huffman, Haley Huffman, David Gardner, Phillip Gardner, Isabelle Gardner and Victoria Huffman.