At Random: Hugh Harris West

By Matt Flumerfelt

The Valdosta Daily Times May 03, 2009 10:10 pm

— 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.
West taught biology and microbiology at Valdosta State College from 1968 to 1994. He was also the pre-pharmacy advisor at VSC. On weekends and afternoons, West worked as a landscape gardener “to supplement a meager salary from teaching.” When he started teaching at VSC in 1968, West said his annual salary was $10,000 per year. It was a big improvement, he said, over what he made as a public school teacher in Americus — $3,300 per year — with a $500 annual supplement for agreeing to sell basketball tickets. However, he said money was not his primary incentive for choosing a teaching career.
“Seeing the growth, development and success of students was rewarding in itself,” he said. “I still miss the students very much. I am sure I made many mistakes over the years and hope I am not too well remembered for them.”
The most troubling aspect of teaching was assigning grades. West said he made every attempt to be fair, even bent over backwards in some instances, but there were still cases in which he could not justify a passing grade. There were many successes with his VSC students, however, many of whom stand out professionally today, he said.
“These students would have been successful regardless of who their teacher was,” he said. “I was only fortunate to have them come my way.”
West shared several anecdotes from his teaching days. He said he was teaching a freshman biology lab once, in which the exercise called for crossing a blond hair with a black hair and mounting it in water on a glass slide under a cover slip. As he was giving instructions, he quickly pulled a blond hair from a surprised female student.
“When I tried to pull a black hair from another female student, she and I both were startled and the entire class went into pandemonium. The girl with the black hair was wearing a wig. The individual black hair did not come loose and the whole wig came off her head. I am not sure very much was learned in lab that day,” he said.
West recalled another occasion when, on microbiology lab day, he was in the small prep room adjacent to the main lab preparing materials for the next session. A pre-med student came from the hall into the lab and asked some other students who had arrived a bit early, “Is that old b------ here yet?”
“He was referring to me, of course, so I stuck my head out of the prep room and said, ‘Yes, I am here.’ I will never forget his expression. I believe he made an ‘A’ in spite of it all,” West said.
West did landscape gardening for 30 years and said he landscaped the yards of many homes around Valdosta. He enjoys putting plants together in ways that accent the architecture of the house he’s working around and said he regards landscape gardening as an art form. The garden walkway behind the home he shares with his wife, Jerry Register, a retired nurse, testifies to his skill and love of weaving plants and architecture into aesthetically satisfying combinations. The landscaping income was only a side benefit to something he had a great passion for, he said.
“The need for artistic expression and achievement was far greater than any financial rewards,” he said. “My professional landscaping simply evolved from a hobby and an art form that I was close to.”
He said he enjoyed getting to know and making friends with so many folks over the years. After he and one of his clients had settled on a landscaping plan, the man remarked, “Some folks say Hugh and some folks say Harris, so which is it?” Trying to be funny, West said, “Some folks call me Hugh and some folks call me Harris. Some folks call me Hugh H. and some folks call me H.H. or Hugh Harris. My friends call me Harris, but you can call me Hugh.” As can be imagined, that didn't come off correctly, he said, adding that the man never let him forget it.
“He is a friend but still calls me Hugh,” he said.
West said he always gave detailed instructions to his landscape helpers on how to dig an appropriate hole for a plant. “You must dig a 50 dollar hole for a 50 cent plant,” he said. He explained that the hole should be bigger around than the plant in the pot and that it should be made as wide at the bottom as at the top, in other words the hole should not be cone shaped.
He said his No. 1 son Guy and his buddy Court Smith must not have appreciated the fact that he thought they didn't know how to dig an appropriate hole. They were ahead of him digging while he was behind planting, but they were surreptitiously observing his whereabouts.
“Suddenly I came upon a hole that was completely square or cube shaped,” he said. “There were a few other shapes that followed which were not round. They had a real holler when they experienced my reaction.”
West is old school in the best sense, a product of a liberal arts education. He believes a man's reach should exceed his grasp, as the poet Robert Browning said. He quoted Dr. Clyde Connell, former head of the Biology Department at VSC, who told him the purpose of a liberal arts education is “to liberate us from ignorance.”
“Dr. Connell was the salt of the earth, as well as the pepper," West said.
West and his wife recently celebrated their 49th wedding anniversary. They have five children, two stepsons from her first marriage, Guy and Robert Bryant, whom he adopted, and three that were theirs together, Hugh and Jeff West, and their youngest, Amanda Wierling. Amanda has a degree in finance and economics from VSC and lives in Smyrna, he said. They now have nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
“I always preferred that my children and grandchildren refer to me as ‘Harris.’ I wanted them to know me first as a person and secondarily as a father and grandfather. The family unit is the basis of our society, but we must remember that individuals compose this unit,” he said.
West said they always tried to have their children with them at mealtime around the table. He said he remarked on more than one occasion that "this is going to be a quiet supper," but it hardly ever turned out to be quiet. At one breakfast he was attempting to teach son No. 2 how best to cut his pancakes on the plate.
“With all eyes and ears on me I said, ‘You simply cut-cut and cut,’ but about that time the pancakes filled with syrup flew off my plate and into my lap. I am certain that the kid learned how not to cut pancakes,” he said.
West said his son, Guy Bryant, whom he refers to as “No. 1 son,” in the manner of Charlie Chan, is a pharmacist, world-traveler, and shoots award-winning photos. Guy and his girlfriend Amy Sturkey sent in separate entries to a photography contest for Conde Nast Traveler magazine a few years ago, he said. Out of a field of over 200 contestants, both Guy and Amy were among the 20 finalists. Her finalist photo was a picture of two lions rampant, while his son’s was a nature shot of Horseshoe Bend in Arizona. Guy also does a lot of underwater photography, West said.
West and his wife also love to travel and since he retired he said they have been to Thailand, Cambodia, China, Africa, Germany, Hong Kong, Nova Scotia, Italy, England, Spain and France. He said they loved St. Croix and Costa Rica, among other destinations. They plan to visit Ireland next, he said.
West expanded his artistic endeavors to include painting. His own paintings are indistinguishable in quality from others that adorn his walls, despite his never having had any lessons. He is also a passing good chef and makes some mean homemade chili, he said.
He has always tried to maintain a sense of humor, he said, even though it may be dark at times.
“A sense of humor is even more important now that I am closer to the back door of life than the front,” he said.

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