George Huddleston

George W. Huddleston
August 2, 1930 ~ February 27, 2021

Lifetime Filer resident, George W. Huddleston, passed peacefully into eternity Saturday, February 27, 2021 at his grandson’s home in Filer.  He recently celebrated his 90th birthday in August of 2020 with his friends and family at that same house.

George was born at home August 2, 1930 to Filer residents Henry and Ethel (Sligar) Huddleston, he was the seventh of ten children.

George grew up in Filer and helped his father who owned and operated a sawmill on Huddleston Road (named after Henry Huddleston), located north of Filer.  He finished the eighth grade in Filer, but he never stopped learning.  His mind was always looking to see how things worked, and he was always building something that would “make him some money” or “be useful to improve life.” He loved “getting the farmers back in the field.”

George left home at 15 years old (1945) and moved in with his brother, Jay.  In the spring of 1948, he left Jay and went up to Anderson Ranch Dam and hired on as a grunt man. That fall, George went to Marsing, Idaho to pick potatoes.  George went back to the dam because he made better money.   In the spring of 1949-1950, George worked at Pappy Jones sawmill trimming trees, best money George had ever made, and at the Sawtooth Sawmill, a few miles down the road.  While there, he met and married his first wife, Betty.

George and Betty came back to Filer and he went to work at ACME Machine works as their foreman, for his first hitch. Blaine was born October of 1951.  George was also baptized at the Followers of Christ Church around this time.

In May 1951, George was drafted into the Army, and after boot camp, went to machinist school in Maryland, graduating third in his class.  He was then shipped over to Japan, where he spent the next 14 months on Hokkaido.  George was honorably discharged in May of 1953.  He divorced his first wife a year later.

After getting out of the Army, he worked on a farm and two different dairies for the next four years. He met his second wife, Gladys McCabe, while milking cows on the second dairy he worked.  They married November of 1954.  They proceeded to have eight children, but only two lived, Sylvia (1986), and Myrna (1958).  George divorced his second wife in the Spring of 1977, after 23 years of marriage.

After the crops were all harvested in 1956, George went back to Bill Herritt at ACME and asked for a job, under the condition he could build his tractor in one corner of Bill’s shop in his spare time.  George worked 16 hours a day, eight for Bill and eight for himself, for three years.

In the winter of 1959, on a blah day, he went to town and worked a deal with Mrs. Anderson for the Anderson/Mosley Blacksmith shop on east end of Main Street in Filer.  George has been the proud owner of Hud’s Blacksmith ever since.  He had lots of variety in his work.  Spring and fall were his main time for farming repairs.  Summers were for logging, where he would get poles from south hills, peal, treat, and store them.  He built a post hole digger to set the poles for the Filer Mutual Telephone Company, but soon expanded to digging corrals, supplying service poles for homes, etc.  The winter was his time to build machinery for himself, and to give his children a job they could do. He built his own home out of his own sawed lumber when he couldn’t get along with his landlord.  He was a true “do it yourselfer”.

George met his third wife in 1977, and they were married in February 1978.  They were married for eight years and divorced in 1986. She introduced George to square dancing. He danced from fall of 1978 to around 2010, when he could not move fast enough anymore. George met Mary Baker while square dancing in 1990.  They had 14 years together, till about 2004.  She ran his digger for several years, and they worked hard and played hard, just enjoying life. No matter where he and Mary went, they could always find a square dance to attend.

George also loved to roller skate, loved to ski, either using his weasel to pull skiers behind, or on downhill slopes.  He loved to hunt, one year hunting for 165 days.  He did not care for fishing much, and did not care to just go “camping” because you “didn’t make any money” just camping.  George loved to travel and would pull in anywhere he saw something interesting to him.  He had a full and productive life.

George had a heart-attack and a stroke October 5, 2020, and he and Myrna moved in with her son, Nathan, and his wife, Kirsten.  He apparently had another stroke on February 12, 2021.  He steadily got worse till he finally passed, Saturday, February 27, 2021.  We want to thank Visions Hospice for their tender care of George during his final days.  You were a great help to our family.

He was preceded in death by his mother and father; his siblings, Gordan (Dorothy), Doris, Jay (Yvonne), a set of unnamed twins, Lola (Bob) Burgoyne, Thelma (George) Swartz, Patricia (Frank) Rippee, and “Baby” Bud (Beverly); also, two of his three children, Blaine (2009), and Sylvia Robinson (2000); one grandchild, Ryan L. Andreasen (1986), and one great-grandchild, Lilian Lee Andreasen (2014).

George is survived by his daughter, Myrna Andreasen of Filer; grandchildren, Mike (Becky) Huntsman of Idaho Falls; Shawna (Green) Love of Boise; Patricia Huddleston of Meridian; David (Jashell) Robinson of Filer; Heath Robinson of Twin Falls; Aaron (Wendy) Andreasen of Emmett; and Nathan (Kirsten) Andreasen of Filer; great grandchildren, Chelsie (Huntsman) Devore, Kadee Huntsman, Cassie (Love) Robinson, Brooke Love, Amber Love, Calvin Love, Collin Bridgeman, Kyla Huddleston, Tyson Robinson, Jayden Robinson, and Jackson Robinson, Andrew Robinson, Asher Robinson, Jayce Robinson, Teddy Robinson, and Alyx Robinson, Annalina Andreasen, Aiden Andreasen, and Zafina Andreasen, and two babies due any day, Constance Andreasen and Grace Andreasen; great great grandchildren, Zack Devore and Trevor Schnovrch, Adley Robinson, William Robinson; as well as nieces and nephews too numerous to name here.

A viewing will be held from 5:00 pm until 7:00 pm, Tuesday, March 9, 2021 at Farmer Funeral Chapel, 130 9th Ave North, Buhl. A funeral service will be held at 11:00 am, Wednesday, March 10, 2021, at Farmer Funeral Chapel, with a viewing one hour prior to service. Pastor Greg “Bear” Morton will officiate.  Military rites will follow at Snake River Canyon National Veterans Cemetery, 1585 East 4150 North Buhl, Idaho.

The funeral will be livestreamed on Farmer Funeral Chapel’s Facebook page.