Ora Jane Huff Valentine

Ora Jane Huff Valentine, passed from this earth to heaven on May 18, 2006, during a short stroke-related hospital stay. She was surrounded throughout her stay at Blount Memorial Hospital by loving family and compassionate caregivers. Ora was born in the Jones Cove area of Sevier County in 1909. She was the 7th child of Cordelia Proffitt Huff and Dr. John H. Huff, the horseback doctor for Cosby, Del Rio and the Gatlinburg-Pitmann area. During the State of Tennessee’s bicentennial, the governor’s office recognized the Huff family as a Tennessee First Family for having settled in the territory before it became a state. Ora was the last living sibling of 4 brothers and 4 sisters. Ora met her husband-to-be, Houston O. Valentine, at a church social and married him after three years of courtship. The couple established their home in Cosby, TN, close to the Valentine family’s tree nursery and near Houston’s 5 brothers. They both taught school at Cosby Academy. Ora was the last living teacher of a school in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. She graduated from Cosby Academy, received her teaching certificate from Carson-Newman, and her degree in elementary education from the University of Tennessee. She taught elementary school in Cocke and Blount Counties for 37 years, 17 years of which were at Union School in Maryville. She retired in 1972. She loved to travel, using conventional and non-conventional means to add to a rich and full life. She traveled by horse-drawn buggy, surrey, Hong Kong rickshaw, open cockpit two-seater plane, English Channel hovercraft, Seine River boat, and New York skyline helicopter. She stood on the Arctic Circle after arriving by dogsled, was detained by officials for carrying her bible while crossing into Russia via train, rode a camel in the Middle East, walked the Great Wall of China, attended church services in the Garden of Gethsemane, boarded cable cars on the Austrian Alps, and for her 91st birthday, took a ride on a Harley-Davidson. She was a resident of Asbury Retirement Center and the oldest member of St. John United Methodist Church in Maryville. She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, was recognized as a Blount Memorial Volunteer Services Super Star, and participated in the Asbury Red Hat Society. Ora was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, and siblings. She is survived by her daughters and sons-in-law, Patricia & Henry Smith of Maryville and Debbie & Darius Mikles of Alcoa; granddaughters and grandsons-in-law, Lea Anne (Smith) & Joe Law of Maryville, TN, and Kristi (Mikles) & Hank Snyder of Alcoa, TN; granddaughters Kellye (Smith) Yarnell of Fort Mill, SC, Amy (Mikles) Floyd of Murfreesboro, TN, and Holly Mikles of Alcoa, TN; and grandson Zac Mikles of Maryville, TN. Great grandchildren include Tyler and Spencer Yarnell, Victoria and Makenzie Law, Jessica and Hannah Reese, Ethan Floyd, Ali and Maci Snyder, and Claire Hutchison. Ora loved several special nieces and nephews and her special friends, Vera Coe, Evelyn Sayler, and Susan Thompson. The family will receive friends on Saturday, May 20, 2006 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at McCammon-Ammons-Click, 220 W. Broadway Ave., Maryville, TN 37801. A service of thanksgiving and celebration will immediately follow at 8:00 p.m. Interment will be at Union Cemetery in Newport, TN at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 21, 2006. Memorials can be made to St. John United Methodist Church Elevator Fund, 2201 E. Broadway, Maryville, TN 37804. McCammon-Ammons-Click Funeral Home, Maryville (865) 982-6812 www.mccammonammonsclick.com