George G. Huffman (1991)

AVERY, GREENFIELD, HUFFMAN

Posted By: Judy Wight Branson (email)
Date: 4/9/2011 at 11:18:47

The Daily Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Friday, May 24, 1991, page 33

Dr. George G., 75, longtime Norman resident and distinguished University of Oklahoma emeritus professor died suddenly Wednesday afternoon May 22, 1991, at his home.

Funeral services will be 10:00 a.m. Saturday, May 25, 1991, at the First Presbyterian Church of Norman with the Reverend Dr. W. Glenn Doak officiating.

Burial will follow in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery in Norman, under the direction of Mayes Funeral Directors.

Dr. Huffman was born February 13, 1916, the son of Walker and Marie Greenfield Huffman, at Winterset, Ia. He grew up in Iowa and attended the University of Iowa, where he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in geology in 1940 and his Master's degree in 1941. He completed his PhD degree at Columbia University in 1945.

After three years with Texaco, he accepted a position as assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma. He became full professor in 1954. Huffman taught courses in physical geology, historical geology, structural geology, paleontology, stratigraphy, and petroleum geology. He directed more than 100 theses and

dissertations in Stratigraphy and Petroleum Geology. He worked summers with the Oklahoma Geological Survey.

Dr. Huffman was active in student organizations, serving as faculty sponsor for Chi Upsilon and Sigma Gamma Epsilon. He supervised the laboratory program in physical and historical geology from 1954 to 1964, and again in 1980 to 1985. He received one of the annual Outstanding Teaching Awards in 1954, was president of the Oklahoma Chapter of Sigma Xi (1958-1959), president of the Alpha Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa (1971-72) and president of the Norman Lions Club (1968-69). He was named to Who's Who in America in 1971. In addition, he was a member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, a fellow of the Geological Society of America, National Association of Geology Teachers, The Paleontological Society and the Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists. He officially retired on December 31, 1984, after more than four decades with the school, but remained on the faculty for four additional years teaching petroleum geology. Following his retirement, he spent more than tw o years researching, compiling and writing the 312 page comprehensive book, "History of the School of Geology and Geophysics." Huffman also taught seminars in Natural Science in the Oklahoma College of Continuing Education (1965-81), and lectured in Lond on and Brighton, England (summers 1980-86).

A native Iowan, he married Jane Avery in Cherokee, Iowa on July 9, 1941. In addition to his wife, he is survived by his two sons, Larry M. Huffman of Norman, Randy and Mary Jane Huffman of Greenwich, Ct.; his daughter, Janice C. Huffman of Denver, Co.; and four grandchildren, Brian and Julie Huffman, both of Norman, and Avery and Ted Huffman, of Greenwich, Ct.

The family has designated memorial contributions to the George G. Huffman Scholarship Fund with the O.U. Foundation.