HUDDLE, RUTH JOHNSON

by Ruth Huddle

Entry F201 from the History of Hooker County Nebraska
with permission of the Hooker County Historical Society

I lived in Cherry County eighteen miles
north of Mullen with my parents, Albert and
Adela Johnson all through my school years
and graduating in 1929 from the Hooker
County High School. I then taught six years
in Cherry County until 1936.

In June 1936 I married Clifton (Bus)
Huddle. We lived in and around Mullen. Two
sons were born, Burton in 1939, three miles
south of Mullen with Dr. David Walker and
Jessie Phipps attending. Marvin was born
1946 at the St. Joseph hospital in Alliance,
Nebraska. They both graduated from Hooker
County High School.

In 1945 I taught one term of school east of
Kelso in Hooker County, when John J. Motl
was the director of schools.

We rented places to live for sometime. We
bought a house in Seneca, Nebraska, living
there eleven months. We then bought prop-
erty in Mullen from the Lowe addition in
south part of town on the highway. We moved
our house from Seneca to this property. Bus
started building the present Motel in 1946,
which we operated for twelve years, then
selling it to Roy and Pauline Bradly in 1959.
Since there wasn't a hospital here at this
time, I operated a licensed maternity home
at our Motel from 1950-1952. I helped to
deliver fifty babies, including three sets of
twins. I assisted, Dr. Melvin Hoyt, Dr. David
Walker and Dr. Howell.

In 1959, Bus moved to California. I bought
a lot from Mann McIntosh in north part of
town, then bought a mobile home, where the
boys and I lived.

When Mullen got our hospital in 1958. I
started work there as an aide and in the
kitchen, where I am still working part time,
1986.

The sons were both married in 1979.
Burton married Millie Neiman, of Thedford.
They have one daughter, Stephanie and her
three children, Jon, Joe, and Jamie. They live
in Seneca, Nebraska. Marvin married Janice
Marten of Imperial, Nebraska where they live
with her two children, Rick and Jodi.