Dale Huskey of Ware was fiercely loyal to the little community where he spent nearly his entire life.
“He was born at his grandmother’s house, where Dollar General is now. The farthest he ever lived from his birthplace was about 6 miles away,” said Mae, 91, his wife of 73 years. “I’m the same. I can look out from where I sit and see where I was born.”
Mr. Huskey died Feb. 4 at nearly 96. He and his wife were both longtime employees of the Grandview School District.
“He drove the bus and was in charge of transportation scheduling,” daughter Gale Mahn said. “Mom was the secretary to the superintendent as well as the board treasurer. They had a combined 70 years of service.”
Mr. Huskey attended the one-room Cedar Grove school and graduated from Hillsboro High School, then went straight into the Merchant Marine. He’d had a girlfriend in high school, but once he left for the military they broke up.
“She sent him a Dear John letter,” Mae said. “And when he came home, we started dating.”
The two had always known one another.
“He was my brother’s best friend. He probably saw me the day I was born,” Mae said. “We were raised together, and when I was a sophomore we started dating.”
They were married in March 1949. Shortly afterward, Mr. Huskey was drafted into the Army but was medically discharged after only three months because of a back injury he sustained during basic training.
The couple settled in Morse Mill and he went to work as a truck driver. Son Neil came along in 1953 and Gale in 1956.
“He always fished, hunted, did a lot of trapping,” Gale said. “He sold furs to pay the hospital bill for Neil. Six years later, his buddy had to go fetch him off a deer stand to come to the hospital where Mom was having me.”
The Huskeys were active in Pilgrim’s Rest Baptist Church, where both had been baptized. They switched to Bethlehem Baptist for a time, then returned to Pilgrim’s Rest in their later years.
“His faith was a way of life for him. He lived by example,” Gale said. “He had such compassion for humanity. He loved kids and saw it as his mission to take care of them.”
Mr. Huskey drove a fuel delivery route for Datillo Fuel as well as a school bus.
“Each morning, he would take the young kids to Grandview and the older ones to De Soto High,” Gale recalled. “Then he’d go load his truck up at the Texaco station – right across from where the railroad memorial is now – and do his delivery route. In the afternoon, he’d do the whole thing in reverse to get the kids home.”
The family didn’t have much money, but the Huskeys made sure their family life was rich with experiences, Gale said.
“He’d play catch with us, take us on float trips, take us hunting and fishing,” she said. “He coached our softball teams and umpired fastpitch for the Baptist Association.”
Mr. Huskey enjoyed lawn mowing, and the family’s large garden produced a marketable surplus.
“They’d put a table up at the end of the driveway with a little can,” Gale said. “People would leave a little cash and take peppers, tomatoes, zucchini.”
The Huskeys were well known as dedicated Grandview supporters.
“I played sports from fifth grade through high school, and he only missed one game,” Gale said. “He and my mom did stats, ran the score clock.
“A long time ago, they started feeding the football players before games. Different parents would bring stuff and they’d have a prayer together, eat a meal. They still do it to this day.”
The original football field at Grandview was dedicated to the Huskeys.
“There are still two bleacher seats with stickers on them that say, ‘Reserved for Dale and Mae,’” Gale said. “Players would rub his bald head for luck.”
Aside from back surgery in the 1960s to fuse a damaged disk, Mr. Huskey enjoyed good health into his 10th decade.
“He used to hire out to bale hay for farmers,” Mae said.
“I have a selfie of him and me up in a deer stand when he was 91,” Gale said. “He got a deer and a turkey that year.”
Three years ago, the Huskeys were driving home from church when another car crossed the center line, hitting them head-on. Both recovered from the crash, but Gale says her father didn’t drive much after that, preferring to indulge his birdwatching hobby.
“He loved to sit on the patio and soak up the sun and watch the birds and the other wildlife,” Gale said. “He fought to keep squirrels out of the feeders. He’d shoot one and mom would cook it for him.”
He had a small stroke at the beginning of the month and was brought home on hospice.
“It was really just old age,” Gale said. “We were blessed he didn’t suffer a long time. Mom and I were by his side when he took his last breath.”
She said her father will be remembered for his kindness and loving spirit.
“He was always willing to give, to help and to take care of people,” she said. “He didn’t like for people to be mad or upset; he wanted peace and for everyone to get along and just love each other.”
“Life Story,” posted Saturdays on Leader Publications’ website, focuses on one individual’s impact on his or her community.