VALDOSTA — Hugh Harris West grew up in Poulan, in Worth County, in a three-room shack with an outhouse. He said they didn’t count the outhouse as a room.

West said Poulan was a thriving little cotton mill village. Although it wasn’t luxury fare, he said they always had enough to eat. West said he was born out in the country at home and was told he was named after an older first cousin. Actually, he said the cousin was about the same age as his mother.

“Mama said they put names in a hat and drew a name from it. Hugh was his first name and Harris was his last name, hence Hugh Harris West was my name. I never saw my namesake until I was about 40 years of age. He had been in the merchant marines all those years and died a few years ago. I saw him only twice in my lifetime,” he said.

His name has caused confusion all his life, he said, because people never seem sure what to call him.

West said he used to beg plants off neighbors who were well off, which he then planted around the foundation “so you couldn’t see up under the house.”

“You have to know ugliness to appreciate beauty,” he said.

West said that, due to necessity, he always had a strong work ethic.

“I have been earning wages since before the age of 12. At one time, when I was around 12, I had three jobs,” he said.

He said he concurrently helped in a grocery store at 35 cents an hour, helped deliver Sunbeam bread at $5 per Saturday, and worked seven nights a week at the drive-in movie theater for $1 per night. Each of the jobs contributed a great deal to his development and education, he said.

“I especially remember a great lesson learned on the bread route,” he said. “We delivered bread all over Worth County. Sweet Lucy's Cafe in Sylvester, Ga., was an African American cafe that specialized in fried mullet sandwiches. My mouth watered each time I got near the place. I will never forget the small but poignant sign posted near the cash register that read ‘If You Ain't Got No Money Then You Done Et.’ I have tried to remember that lesson in spite of having to buy on credit most of my life.”

After graduating from Sylvester High School in 1956, West went on to obtain a degree in science education from Georgia Southern University. He taught science and biology in the Americus city school system from 1960-63.

“Americus was a historic town with wonderful folks,” he said. “I was there for three years. My salary was about $250 a month. During my last year there, I helped with the Junior/Senior Dance. It was a spectacular production that required lots of talent, work and dollars. We transformed the gym into the city of Rome and beyond to Greece with the Parthenon and even chariot races. Parents and spectators came from miles around to see the decorations.”

A post-Sputnik grant to improve science education enabled West to attend the University of Georgia from 1963 to 1968, where he said he received a master’s degree in microbiology, plant pathology and mycology, the branch of biology dealing with fungi. The title of his doctoral dissertation was “Sexual Reproduction in the Genus Aspergillus.” Mushrooms are the largest and most conspicuous organisms in the fungal kingdom, he said.

When he started teaching at Valdosta State University, West said he was quickly called upon to identify mushrooms that had been eaten by children to help determine whether they were poisonous. His training didn’t require him to become an expert in mushroom identification, he said.

“I was supposed to know about mushrooms since I had a Ph.D. in mycology. I needed to at least learn to identify the most deadly and poisonous forms. I set out to learn a little about mushrooms. I was only a little better prepared at identification during subsequent ingestion of mushrooms by children. I might add that some adults also became ill due to mistaking some harmful species for the psilocybin group. I never became an authority on mushroom identification,” he said.