Clairon Lowe Huff

Clairon Lowe Huff, 88, of Draper, Utah passed away December 14, 2020, from complications due to COVID-19. Known throughout his life as Clair, he was born in Draper April 29, 1932, the son of Jennie Doney Lowe and Sparrel Everett Huff. His parents chose the name Clairon for its meaning — clarity — and pleasant sound. However, the name plagued him throughout life. Anyone who didn’t know him and just saw his name assumed he was female. His family homesteaded Draper with a chicken ranch on the southwest corner of 700 East 12300 South. Brothers and sisters Gayle, Virginia, Donna, Lavar, Verlene, Marilyn, Ruth and Kay worked the ranch until it accidentally burned to the ground in the late 1940s. His father also made adobe bricks on the site, and used them to build many early Draper homes. His mother, Jennie, was well-known in the community for her rolls, dipped chocolates and pies. Clair loved her pies, but could not partake until he ate his cooked carrots first, inspiring a lifelong personal vendetta against cooked carrots. Clair grew up farming the Draper fields, working on a wheat thresher and combine during the summer months, and helping his mother pick fruits and vegetables. Football, basketball, boxing and automotive classes were his teenage passions. His graduation from Jordan High School in1950 was memorable. As the graduating class assembled on stage, a curtain caught fire. The ceremony began hours later among the scorched remains of the stage and curtain. A degree in farming drew Clair to Utah State Agricultural College — now Utah State University — but he admitted not taking his studies seriously. He later recalled sweeping the basketball floor before and during games as his fondest memory of Logan. Clair joined the Utah Air National Guard in 1951, and was stationed at the Salt Lake City airport headquarters as a driver for officers. (The death of his brother Lavar in World War II’s Battle of the Bulge precluded him from serving in combat.) That same year, an arranged blind date drew him to the Beehive House on Salt Lake’s Temple Square. At the time, it was a dormitory for young women attending LDS Business College, and Clair was scheduled to meet Elizabeth Nell Campbell in the parlor. Beth, as she was known, refused to have another blind date with someone who had cow dung on his boots. She slipped out the back door. Clair, being the patient person he was throughout life, took a nap and awaited her. The two met, and she liked him. On February 11, 1952, the couple married in the Salt Lake Temple. The legacy of that blind date: Five children, 21 grandchildren and 53 great-grandchildren. Clair joined the Air Force during the Korean War, and was stationed in Clovis, New Mexico, where he again served as a driver for officers. He also boxed for the Air Force, and reputedly won many bouts. After an honorable discharge, he attended the University of Utah, College of Eastern Utah and then Utah State University, earning a degree in range science with minors in chemistry and ornithology. While playing for the College of Eastern Utah basketball team, he became known as “Elbows” due to his sharp appendages. While at the University of Utah, he created fond memories and lifelong plant biology skills working with Walter P. Cottam, co-founder of Red Butte Garden. In 1956, he was hired by the Utah Fish & Game, now the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, as a conservation officer. He worked is way from a conservation officer to the assistant director of the division during his career. Field biologists appreciated his ability to make dessert pies in the field. His colleagues nominated him to represent them at a Utah State Fair pie-making contest in 1988, in which he won second place. As a devoted field biologist, he created many fond memories as his work took him and his family rumbling down Utah’s dirt roads or rafting down rivers. He regaled his children and grandchildren with wild tales of Utah’s animals and mountains. Fishing trips were always adventure filled. After retiring, Clair served as executive vice president for the International Hunter Education Association, traveling to many states and around the world to meet dignitaries. For this work he received the Dr. Edward Kozicky Award in 1991, and again in 1994. He also served on the Draper City Council during 1988-1995. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints played a central role in Clair’s life, and he filled many leadership positions. After retiring from hunter education, Clair and Beth became LDS missionaries serving in Elberta, Utah. Mixing his religion and biology skills, his missionary work was to develop an upland game bird reserve on the west shore of Utah Lake. Many grandchildren fondly remember the Elberta farm, where their grandfather taught them to drive using the manure truck and the dirt roads around the fields. When the two-year stint ended, the couple joined the Good Sam’s Club Ute Salt Shakers chapter. With his 25-year history of driving Utah’s back roads, he enthusiastically led the group on many adventures. “Mystery Trips” were a favorite. As the wagonmaster, he pored over maps finding the most out-of-the-way places to take his fellow club members.When home he continued volunteering as a Boone and Crockett official measurer well into his 80s. In this post, he scored the size of antlers and heads of wildlife killed by other hunters. His sons recall him scoring a record bighorn sheep and a mountain lion. Clair was well-known throughout Utah as he made friends easily and treated others with respect. He was preceded in death by his wife Beth, who died June 16, 2014. He continued to live in his Draper home for almost five years, then moved to Provo where he lived with his son, William, for nearly two years. When Alzheimer’s disease robbed him of his memory, he moved to memory care in Courtyard at Jamestown, Provo, Utah. Clair is survived by his brother Ken Huff; brother-in-law Ben Rishton; children William (Joyce) Huff, E. Wesley (Cristy) Huff, Barbara Ann (Gordon) Jacobsen, Paula Huff Bryant and Elizabeth (Robert) Lau; 21 grandchildren; and 53 great grandchildren. Due to COVID-19, a private family graveside service and interment is set December 19, 2020. A memorial service is planned on his birthday April 29, 2021.