Obituary of Hubert Humphreys

Hubert D. Humphreys (Professor Emeritus of LSU-S), age 86, died Friday, August 28, 2009 in Ollie Steele Burden Manor of Baton Rouge, LA. Services will be 11AM Saturday, September 5, 2009 from the chapel of Riser Funeral Home in Columbia. He was a native of Caldwell Parish, long time resident of Shreveport and he lived his last days of retirement in Baton Rouge. During his working years, he spent 33 years as an educator in Louisiana. He started in Webster Parish High School then moved to Fair Park in Caddo. He joined the LSU-S faculty in 1967 as one of the Charter faculty members and served 17 years. He was the son of Ralph and Ellie Humphreys of Grayson, Louisiana. Humphreys was a graduate of Grayson High School in 1940. He spent 6 months in the Civilian Conservation Corp before entering Louisiana Tech. Soon after Pearl Harbor (1941) he took a job with the U.S. Corp of Engineers and later worked in defense work until joining the Navy in 1943. He served 3.5 years in the Navy and was in many battles in the Pacific while serving with Rear Admiral Harry Hill (commander of the Fifth Amphibians Forces) as the traversed the oceans. Some of the major battles were: invasion of Pelletier (Palau's Islands), Iwo Jima, Saipan (Mariana Island), and Okinawa. Okinawa was the costliest battle of the war for the Navy, in the loss of ships and men. Humphreys was on the U.S.S. Auburn when Nagasaki formerly surrendered after the dropping of the Atomic bomb. Humphreys was mustered out on March 7, 1946 in New Orleans. He was awarded three battle stars and numerous letters of commendations and citations. Humphreys then entered LSU under the G.I. Bill. He received his BS in education from LSU, a Master of Education from the University of Texas and a Master of History from LSU. During Humphrey's career he engaged in advanced work at Harvard University, at Tulane (COE Foundation Grant), Long Island University (Asia Foundation Grant) and Stanford University (Stanford Institute of American History Grant). He received special archival training at Emory University and Georgia State Archives. He received the Fullbright-Hays Summer Seminar grant to study in Lebanon (1967) and again in 1970 to study in Southeast Asia. During his professional life Humphreys served as president, delegate, speaker, consultant and contributor for numerous organizations including: North Louisiana Historical Association, Louisiana Historical Association, Louisiana Association of Social Studies, National Council of Social Studies, Southern Historical Association, Organization of American Historians, Association of University Professors, Phi Alpha Theta, Society of Southwest Archivists, Oral History Association, Tarshar, Shreveport Preservations Society, Louisiana Bicentennial Commission, and Louisiana Historic Records Advisory Commission. In addition to teaching Humphreys helped plan and implement the LSU-S Archival Program and the LSU-S Oral History Program. He published the first directory on local history collections. He was selected as the Caddo Teacher of the year 1965; as the DAR teacher of the year 1971; voted by the LSU-S System Distinguished Faculty Committee to receive the "Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award" 1984. Humphreys published numerous articles, book chapters, book review papers, film strips and monographs. In addition to his published work he served as consultant to the Shreveport Spring Street Museum, Humanities Workshop on Oral History, to the Murphree Corporation for the Louisiana Tower Project, and the New England Oral History Project. After retirement Humphreys continued to do research. He especially enjoyed his research on the Village of Grayson and his works on the history of the Methodist Protestant Church. He published several side stories from this research.In 2007, after his retirement, Hubert was honored by being named the recipiant of the "Hubert Humphreys Endowed Professorship of History in the College of Liberal Arts". He had several other topics in mind that he wanted to do but, his health failed. As long as he lived he taught history-just ask his family. Humphreys is a former member of St. Luke Methodist in Shreveport where he was active for many years. At the time of his death he was a member of Broadmoor United Methodist Church in Baton Rouge. Humphreys is preceded in death by his parents, Ralph and Ellie Humphreys and his brother-in-law, James C. Taylor. Survivors include his sisters: Mildred H. Taylor of Baton Rouge and Melissa Verna Douglas and husband, George W. of Shreveport, niece, Melissa Folks and husband, Johnny of Baton Rouge, three nephews: Rev. James Ralph Taylor and wife, Mary of Lutz, FL, Robert Henry Taylor and wife, Sally of Lafayette and David Douglas of Houston, TX, six great-nephews, serving as pallbearers, and one great-niece Lauren Elizabeth Taylor. Honorary pallbearers will be Wesley Douglas, Stephen Douglas, Wesley Jordan Taylor, James Colbert Taylor, Joshua Milton Taylor, Jeremiah Taylor, Johnny Folks, Bobby Joe Mercer, George Stamper, Maurice Mercer, Norman Buck Lay, T.H. Tingle, O.A. McKeithen, Norman Dolch, Richard Calquin, Allen Thompson, Tommy Leonard, Loyd Zigenbein, Dr. Dalton Cloud, Dr. Vince Marsala and Mrs. Laura Connerly. Formal services will be held at Riser Funeral Home of Columbia, Louisiana at 11:00 am with visitation beginning at 9:00 am. Interment will follow in Welcome Home Cemetery of Grayson, Louisiana. All memorials will be appreciated and may be made according to the givers' choice.