“Fifty years goes by, bringing joys and heartaches. Life is that way. My 50 years has been full of what happens to everyone, but there have been moments very precious to me. The fact that I could be proud of my alumni, my alma mater, and the fine people on its faculty and the students with whom I associated, has been dear to me. What my college and friends in school did for me I treasure, for I know that my life’s activities have been influenced by the people I love to remember.”
– Ethel Huxtable in a letter to Hastings College President Dr. Theron Maxon on May 16, 1965
In 1965, Ethel (Decker) Huxtable, wrote a letter to Hastings College President Dr. Theron Maxon, full of fond reminiscences and praise for her alma mater’s enduring role in her life. Although her path had taken her and her husband, Howard, to sunny California for decades following her 1915 graduation, the couple remained forever connected to their beloved college on the Nebraska plains.
Ethel Decker and Howard Huxtable spent many of their formative years in Hastings, and both graduated from Hastings High School before enrolling at Hastings College. There, Ethel pursued a B.S. in English, and Howard worked toward a degree in economics. Following the end of his sophomore year, Howard followed his family to California, and completed his degree at Stanford University, graduating in 1915.
Ethel remained at Hastings College, completing her own degree in 1915. Years later, she recalled her final day at HC wistfully: “On the way home down 7th Street that day, I heard the birds singing, and I saw the roses in bloom. I had not realized how beautiful everything along the way was till that morning I was going to graduate.”
Ethel remained in Nebraska to teach, and spent a year each at Wauneta and Alma. These teaching posts proved to be the beginning of a long and varied career in education for Ethel, spanning several grades, content areas and states. Meanwhile, Howard had parlayed his Stanford degree into a job at International Banking Corporation in San Francisco, and later, took a job at the San Francisco Clearing House, where he worked until his retirement in 1959.
Ethel left her Nebraska teaching posts after the close of the school year in 1917, and on May 10 of that year, she and Howard were married in a small family ceremony at the bride’s parents’ house at 112 N. Bellevue Ave in Hastings. A few days later, the couple moved west, where they established a home in Burlingame, California.
Marriage was not the only significant change that the couple would experience during the following year. When the United States entered World War I, Howard served in the U.S. Navy. He was one of many men with HC connections to serve — The Hastings Tribune considered in 1919 that the college had acquitted itself of its patriotic duty well, with its 189 men in service “add(ing) lustre” to the institution.
Not all of the servicemen came from the ranks of students and recent attendees—three of these service members were part of the faculty, and one was on the Board of Trustees!
Howard, for his part, seemingly excelled in his service. He completed additional training and was commissioned as an ensign. World War I brought different changes for Ethel — the couple’s only child, son Homer, was born in April of 1918. While Howard trained as an officer, Ethel cared for their infant.
Fortunately, the conclusion of the war speedily reunited the family, and Ethel recalled that “After the signing of the armistice, Howard, after a few months, was back in civilian clothes and in his old position at the bank.”
Ethel’s undergraduate studies at Hastings College equipped her well for her next several decades as an educator, and opened exciting doors for her. When their son was a pre-schooler, she created a private school for him and other neighborhood children. As an enrichment activity for the kids, this was undoubtedly useful, but Ethel also viewed it practically—running the little school kept her Nebraska Life Credential valid.
“To me,” she remembered, “it meant life insurance, and it would have been void had I not kept in educational work.”
This same motivation drove her to pursue summer graduate school work at San Jose State, and later, at Stanford. Ethel remembered with some pride that her work was so excellent that one of her professors at SJSU told her “You don’t belong here. You should be in Stanford.”
In 1927, Ethel brought Homer to Hastings for an extended summer visit with her parents, and while here taught two courses at Hastings College: Educational Methods, and Modern Methods in Geography.
As Homer grew older and entered the public school system, Ethel likewise found a space for herself in the classroom. After stints teaching both elementary and high school, she was approached by her superintendent to consider taking over as Art Supervisor.
“This meant work, for again, I would need to earn more credentials” to qualify as a supervisor, remembered Ethel, who branched out even further and took a number of Fine Arts courses at the California School of Fine Arts.
Truly a lifelong learner, Ethel’s dedication to scholastic excellence gained her acceptance into Pi Lambda Theta, an international honor society for educators, (Omega Chapter) at the University of California, a membership she treasured for the rest of her life. She worked as supervisor of art in Burlingame Public Schools for 24 years and, as she remembered, “loved every minute of it.”
With challenging and satisfying careers, both Howard and Ethel nevertheless dedicated themselves to a variety of organizations.
Howard was a member of the San Francisco and Peninsular Camera Club, the American Legion, the Sirs of Retirement, and several fraternal organizations. Ethel continued to teach art in community spaces after her retirement, and was active in the Burlingame Women’s Club and Pi Lambda Theta. In 1975, the couple moved to Modesto, California, to be close to Homer and his wife, Elizabeth.
In addition to their involvement in their California community, the Huxtables never forgot Hastings College.
Howard was elected as vice president of the Northern California Chapter of the Hastings College Alumni Association in 1966, and records show that the couple gave regularly to a variety of projects on campus. Ethel, in particular, took an eager interest in developments at the college and often shared her impressions of the alumni bulletin with the alumni office.
After their deaths—Howard died in 1976 at age 84, and Ethel in 1979 at age 88 — their son, Homer, chose to honor his parents through continuing their connection to the place that meant so much to both of them. In honor of his mother’s long dedication to education, Homer and Elizabeth Huxtable established the Ethel E. Huxtable Memorial Scholarship Fund.
When Homer died in 1993 he left an estate totaling $590,000 to the college in honor of his parents. This gift to Hastings College continues a long tradition of financial support the Huxtables provided the College during their lifetimes.
After reflecting on her previous 50 years of a full life, Ethel concluded her 1965 letter with gratitude for the role her alma mater had played in shaping her: “I learned how to value time, work, study and be happy in Hastings College,” she wrote.
Thanks to Ethel, Howard, and Homer’s generosity, generations of Hastings College students have had the opportunity to do the same.