Orvin Huffman

Elder Orvin Jefferson Huffman, age 90, of Ocean Springs, MS., was called home to be with the Lord on Thursday, March 2, 2006. Elder Huffman was born on January 25, 1916, in Biltmore, NC, and had been a resident of Ocean Springs since 1985. He served during World War II in the U.S. Merchant Marines on U.S. Army hospital ships, including the Algonquin, Dogwood and Charles A. Stafford. After World War II, he returned to his family in Asheville and his job with the U.S. Postal Service, retiring in 1971. He then worked for Southern Life Insurance Company as an agent for five years. He was ordained as a minister in 1947 at Mountain Home Primitive Baptist Church in Asheville, where he served as assistant pastor until his father, who was the senior pastor, died in 1957. He served as pastor of Mountain Home PBC until 1985. After moving to Ocean Springs, he joined Mt. Zion Primitive Baptist Church in Pascagoula and later served as assistant pastor of Fair Haven Primitive Baptist Church in Ocean Springs for several years. Elder Huffman was preceded in death by his parents, Elder Luther Langdon Huffman and Ada Bell Knighten Huffman, his wife of 63 years, B. Donelda McIntyre Huffman, brothers, Ernest Huffman, Lester L. Huffman and Oren Huffman, a sister, Ann Summerlin and a daughter, Eleanor Victoria Huffman. He is survived by a brother, Arnold Huffman of Crystal River FL., sister, Mary Flowers of Rome, GA., two daughters, Frances Rebecca Huffman of Houston, TX., and Gloria Merle Huffman of Greenwich, CT, two sons, Byron Lane Huffman of Columbia, MD., and Philip Edwin Huffman of Ocean Springs, thirteen grandchildren and fourteen great-grandchildren. Visitation will be on Saturday, March 4, 2006, from 6-8 P.M. at the Ocean Springs Chapel of Bradford O'Keefe Funeral Home. On Sunday, March 5, 2006, there will be a 2 PM chapel service in the funeral home. Burial will follow in Southern Memorial Park. View and sign register book at www.bradfordokeefe.com.