Joseph Alton Hugger, age 86, of Summit Township, died Wednesday, February 16, 2011 at Abington Crest Nursing Center where he had resided the past six months. Born June 19, 1924, he was the son of the late Alton Joseph Hugger and Ida Mary (Garlick) Hugger.
Joe graduated from 8th grade at the Stone School in Summit, class of 1938, and then from Academy High School, class of 1942. In 1946 when Joe’s father, a Summit Township Supervisor, passed away, Joe was appointed to complete the remainder of his term.
He married Beatrice K. Pildner on October 8, 1948, and he lovingly raised her boys–Robert Patrick Kelly (deceased, wife Lois), Gale Allen Kelly (wife Mary) and Dennis Gene Kelly (wife Kathy) as his own and he was their “Dad”.
Joe was born in the house he lived in all his life until the last 5 years when he resided with his daughter, Anita Jo (Hugger) Lemmon and her husband Daniel Lemmon, still on the family farm. He loved his farm and his work as a heavy equipment operator. He said there was not a day he did not want to go to work and “play in the dirt”. Joe worked over 40 years for Robert D. Wolf Excavating & Grading, a job and people he cared for deeply.
Joe’s interests were farming, shooting, hunting, trapping, and fishing. In his later years he became an avid gardener and enjoyed his daily trips around the farm on his John Deere Gator.
Joe is survived by his sister June (Hugger) Rettig and her husband Jack of Corvallis, Oregon, and many grandchildren.
Visiting hours will be at the Van Matre Funeral Home, 105 Walnut Street, Waterford on Saturday from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. Family and friends are then invited to join the immediate family at the Frog Pond Restaurant in Canadohta Lake following the visiting hours. Burial will be in Waterford Cemetery.
This man was my Papa Joe.
He quietly, without judgment or much fuss, taught me many lessons of life. We shared mostly a love of farming – the land, the animals, and the chores. He taught me how to tie a feed bag, how to make a straight row across a plowed field, and how to mind my own business.
I remember oatmeal and toast for breakfast, tea by the wood stove, and breaking and fixing the equipment. He once told me, “I can’t exactly say you’re hard on equipment, but you sure know how to find the weak spots.”
Mostly, he was a good, good man.
I named my oldest daughter after him.
He will always be in my heart.