Dorothy Robinson Huff passed away Sunday, October 2nd, 2016 at Madison Health and Rehabilitation. Born in Madison County in 1919, she was predeceased by parents Jeter and Myrtle Hensley Robinson; brothers Jack, Max, Jim and Emory Robinson and sister Evelyn R. Austin. She is survived by sister Betty R. Wells and brother David (Sharon) Robinson and sister-in-law Jean Robinson. She was a member of Mars Hill Baptist Church.
In 1942 she married Alfred W. Huff, her childhood sweetheart and love of her life. She was a full and equal partner in her marriage, which lasted until Alf’s passing in 2000. Alf farmed and was postmaster in Mars Hill. Dorothy grew, canned and preserved foods of all kinds, sewed clothes for her family, and followed a rigorous home economy that included keeping and milking a cow, churning butter and making cottage cheese.
In 1953 she founded the Home Demonstration Club in Mars Hill. Ladies met monthly in each other’s homes to learn the latest food growing and preservation methods. She thought exercise was important so she was an early morning runner on the MHC track, averaging 7 miles every day. She participated in water aerobics until age 94.
Dorothy will be remembered by most for her tireless efforts to establish and preserve the Madison County library system. In 1955 there were no libraries in the county until Dorothy and three other ladies raised around thirty- seven hundred dollars for the county to use as matching funds to obtain a grant from the state to start a library. When the grant was received, county commissioners appointed Dorothy to the library Board. For the first five years the library took the form of a bookmobile that served the entire county. In 1960 the library system was at last able to establish regular service headquartered in a building in Marshall with branches in Hot Springs and Mars Hill. As there was no money for staff, Dorothy volunteered to keep the Mars Hill branch open one and then two afternoons a week. She performed this service faithfully and without compensation for twenty- one years, until the library building in Mars Hill was built in 1981. At that point Dorothy was given a small stipend and remained as manager of the library until her retirement in 1998.
Dorothy was particularly delighted with the library visits of children for she was convinced that the habit of reading would help them make their way in the world. In her forty-three years of close association with the library, she watched several generations of children grow up, many of whom still remembered her with cards and notes at Christmas.
Dorothy was an example to her family of a life led by commitment to both family and community and how to grow old gracefully.
She is survived by her daughter Ann Huff Toney (Harold); son John Huff (Harold Lever) and son Jim Huff (Cheryl); grandsons Matthew Toney (Alison) and Nathan Huff (Leslie); granddaughters Rebekah and Kaitlin Huff; and great granddaughter Catherine Toney and great grandson Alexander Toney. She is also survived by her devoted caregiver Emma Sue English and her good friend and Home Health Care nurse Sherri Ledford.
A funeral service will be held Wednesday, October 5, 2:30 pm at Mars Hill Baptist Church with Rev. Dr. Tommy Justice. Burial will follow in the Mars Hill Baptist Church Cemetery. Visitation will be held in the church from 1:00 - 2:30pm prior to the service.
In lieu of flowers, memorial may be made to the Friends of Mars Hill Library, P. O. Box 1333, Mars Hill, NC 28754.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.blueridgefuneralservice.org