Front: Dale `55, Edna (Godfrey), and Rex.
This was one of the last larger families that had at least six youngsters in Milford School.
Rexford (great grandson of TR Hughes) and Edna Hughes moved to Milford Twp in 1936 and five of their six children were born while living in Milford Twp: Norman (who was born while Rex and Edna lived in Boone County in 1935, died in 1944 of Leukemia while a third grader at Milford School, Page 75), Dale '55, Loyd '56, Norene '59, Linda '63N, and Karen '67N. They first lived at the very southwest corner of Sec 8 and then bought the 320 acre farm in the northwest corner of Sec 14 and the northeast corner of Sec 15 in 1938. They lived on the west side of Sec 14- one mile east and 3/4 north of the School. Rexford was the first to purchase a TV, a 12" GE on December 8, 1949.
Rexford served as a representative for the farmers when I-80 was first planned and being constructed in the early fifties.
When Karen started kindergarten in January 1955, while Dale was a senior, all five living siblings attended school together. Dale served as a bus driver his senior year, but it is rather ironic that none of the siblings rode that bus but caught Arnie Munson's bus. Dale's bus was almost always filled to capacity as there were 39 students assigned to ride the 36 passenger bus. Three; Dale, Loyd and Norene graduated at Milford Twp while Linda and Karen graduated with their classes after the 1961 merge with the Nevada System. The family was very active at Milford Twp. Dale had the honor of playing his piccolo for an US Air Force Band for two of the three years he served. Both Rex and Edna helped with the 4-H program as leaders and it was sad to also loose Rex, who had served on the County Fair Board, at age of only 48 in 1957 of Cancer.
It was meaningful that the last Milford Twp School US flag was presented to the Hughes Family the final day Milford Twp closed in 1991. I think Coach Cochrane and Supt Hopkins were the originators of this happening in that Rex was an ardent supporter of Milford athletics and attended literally every basketball game and baseball game, both home and away, where, on a few occasions, he was pressed into service as an umpire. Coach Cochrane really appreciated the support of the parents of the players and having them attend the events.
The T.R. Hughes, Rex's great-grandfather, family was one of the earliest families to come to the Milford Township area arriving in the spring of 1856. In 1858 he was instrumental in the founding of Milford Township. There has been a representative of this family in Milford Township since that time. T.R. Hughes and his family built the mill that was eventually titled "Soper's Mill". T.R. donated the land for the construction of Pleasant Grove Church. He eventually owned quite a bit of land to the south of this church and around Mc Farland Park. Loyd Hughes (1939-1998) bought land from the Sowers and since these two families are intermarried, he was given a Century Farm certificate in 1976.
Rex loved to travel and by the mid-fifties he had taken his family, by car, to every state in the Union and Alaska before it was a state. He had his family in Alaska when school started in the fall of 1951 and the youngsters missed two weeks of school. For one reason or another, he liked Nash automobiles and so he drove a Hudson or a Nash from the time of Second World War until his death in 1957 when he owned one of the last Nash automobiles made, a 1957 model which was more costly than a Cadillac at the time.
Currently, in 2011, Linda's son, Paul, farms the original Rex Hughes farm in Sec 14 and 15 and Loyd's daughter, Teri and her husband, Jason Jenson, live on the farm in Sec 8 where Loyd and Lori had lived. See phone story on page 26.