| Notes |
- Find-a-Grave
John "Keith" Hughes was born on Feb. 7, 1927, the first son and second child of John Owen Hughes and Pearl Keziah Allen Hughes. He was the first-born of a set of twins; his twin sister was named Sarah "Carol" Hughes. They were born at the family home in Mendon and were raised in Mendon.
Keith attended elementary school in Mendon, 9th grade in Wellsville, and South Cache High School in Hyrum. He excelled in athletics, lettering in football, basketball, and track. He graduated in abstentia, because he had joined the armed services during World War II.
Keith joined the U.S. Navy before he turned 18, in 1945. He completed boot camp in San Diego, California, and then worked in the Personnel and Records offices, performing clerical duties. He also played on the Navy's basketball team in San Diego. He received an honorable discharge from the Navy in August of 1946.
After the war, Keith returned to Cache Valley, where he attended Utah State University, in Logan, on a football scholarship. He played tackle and end and was named to the All-Conference team in 1947 & 1949. He was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, and he graduated from USU with a degree in agriculture.
Keith married Joan Crookston, daughter of Laurn and Blanche Crookston, of Logan, on Aug. 10, 1948, in the Logan LDS Temple. They made their home in Logan for a time, and he worked for the Cache Valley Dairy Association as plant manager. Then he accepted a job with the U.S. Extension Service and they moved to Bountiful, where he worked as the assistant County Agent in Davis County.
In 1954, they moved to St. George, Utah, where he was the Washington County Agent. They lived there for 7 years. Keith was active in the Kiwanis Club and served as president; he was in charge of the county 4-H program and enjoyed his time working with the area youth. He was also involved in LDS Church sports, and was an excellent fast-pitch softball player; he was a great pitcher and outfielder. His teams participated in the All-Church tournaments in Salt Lake City nearly every year Keith played, and he was named to the Senior All-Star team in 1956 & 1959.
In 1961, the family moved to Moses Lake, Washington, where Keith had accepted a job with U & I Sugar Company. He was in charge of by-products sales, and while he worked with the company, their sales increased by 40 percent. While in Moses Lake, he served as counselor in the bishopric of the Moses Lake 4th Ward with Bishop Forest Lybbert. He was also active in Little League Baseball and was highly involved with the Grand Coulee LDS Stake Welfare Farm.
The Hughes family was transferred to southeast Idaho in 1965, and moved to Rigby, where they made their home for 3 years. They then moved to Ucon, Idaho, in 1968, where they were living when Keith passed away.
The family was blessed with 6 children:
1) Gregory John Hughes (1951)
2) Diana Lee Hughes Barney (1952)
3) Rodney Crookston Hughes (1955)
4) Ann Louise Hughes Roeller (1957)
5) Camille Hughes Johnson (1960)
6) Kurtis Allen Hughes (1961)
Keith was an avid hunter and fisherman; he loved the outdoors and treasured his time in the Mendon/Wellsville Mountains. He enjoyed raising champion Black Labrador Retrievers, competing with them in Retriever Trials and using them in his bird hunting.
He was an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served faithfully in many capacities.
His dream was to move back to Mendon and raise registered Hereford cattle with his father, John O. Hughes.
He became ill on a Saturday, and thought he had food poisoning. He was admitted to the LDS Hospital in Idaho Falls, Idaho, on Tuesday, and passed away on Wednesday, Aug. 20, 1969. He had been diagnosed as having acute myloblastic leukemia. It was later found that he probably contracted this disease as a result of working as County Agent in Washington County, Utah, where nuclear testing had given rise to fall-out. This radioactive fall-out affected many people and eventually caused their demise from leukemia and other diseases.
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1927 - 1969 (42 years)
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