Jim Haug
April 14, 1946 – Sept. 16, 2022
On Friday, September
16, 2022, at 9:00 in the
morning, Dr. Charles
James (Jim) Haug, the lov-
ing father of three sons,
Stopher, Marty, and Jim-
my, and husband of 55
years, passed away quiet-
ly and peacefully at the
home he and his wife,
Ruth Janet Severson
Haug, built together 42
years ago in Starkville,
Mississippi. Ruth was by
his side at the time of his
passing, and they were
holding hands.
Jim was born on April
14, 1946, in Minot, North
Dakota, to Philip and
Marie Haug (McLaughlin)
of Deering, North Dakota
(population of about 136
at the time). He grew up
on the family farm in
Deering, where he learned
the ways of farm life
alongside his father, and
enjoyed spending time
with his grandfather and
original homesteader, Ole
Christian. Jim’s farming
days culminated in his
earning the award of
“Outstanding Young
Sheepherder of North
Dakota” while in high
school, and his experi-
ence with farm life also
encouraged him to ex-
plore other opportunities
for a career path. Growing
up in Deering with his
younger sister, Judy, Jim
enjoyed playing hoops,
riding his horse, hunting
for gophers, and reading
every book he could get
his hands on. In 1964, he
graduated from Deering
High School, where his
mother had been a career
teacher and administrator,
and attended the Univer-
sity of North Dakota
(UND) on scholarship,
where he met and fell in
love with his partner for
life, Ruth.
Jim and Ruth were mar-
ried September 7, 1967.
They lived in the “tin
huts” on the UND campus
and were very
active–they fervently ral-
lied support for the end of
the war, went on dates
ranging from fraternity
and sorority events to
hockey games and nights
out at the library and the
student union, and trav-
eled often to visit Jim’s
family or to camp with
Ruth’s family, which most
often found them gath-
ered at Cass Lake, Min-
nesota. While in college,
Jim’s interests were varied
and included DJ-ing for
the university radio sta-
tion, working at the post
office, and obtaining a
lifeguard certification
(despite a swimming style
that he would later liken
to doggie-paddling). After
completing his honors
thesis on the Industrial
Workers of the World
(published in the North
Dakota Quarterly, his first
published work), Jim gra-
duated alongside Ruth in
1968, with both earning
Bachelor of Arts degrees.
Also in 1968, Jim was
awarded a Fulbright Scho-
larship that allowed the
couple to live in Bor-
deaux, France for a year,
which began a life-long
love affair of all things
French. After Bordeaux,
they moved to Lawrence,
Kansas, where Jim pur-
sued his PhD in European
History from the Universi-
ty of Kansas (KU).
While at KU, Jim
focused his studies on
17th and 18th century
French history, and also
learned Fortran, one the
first computer coding
languages, and became
very involved with early
and revolutionary
methods of computer
mapping techniques. Ruth
and Jim cheered for the
Jayhawks (he would for-
ever chant Rock, Chalk
Jayhawk) and welcomed
Sally, the first of what
would be many poodles in
their lives. Shortly
thereafter, Sally was
joined by Coco, a white
miniature poodle that
they found in distress (in
a sign of what Coco had
experienced, and also a
testament to Jim, he was
the only adult male that
Coco ever became com-
fortable with during what
would be her sixteen
years with the family).
While at KU, Jim received
a Fellowship in 1972 that
allowed Ruth and Jim to
spend a year in Paris and
Nice while Jim continued
dissertation research on
what would become his
first book, Leisure and Ur-
banism, a historical study
of 19th century Nice and
the growth and develop-
ment of the French Rivi-
era.
After returning to the
States, Ruth and Jim wel-
comed their first child,
Christopher Christian
(“Stopher”) into the world
in March 1974. After Jim
obtained his PhD from KU
and received an offer of a
faculty position as an as-
sistant professor in the
History Department at
Mississippi State Univer-
sity, the family moved to
Starkville, Mississippi, in
1976, where Jim and Ruth
would remain together for
the next 46 years.
Shortly after arriving in
Starkville and being intro-
duced to grits and the joy-
s–along with the lessons
in patience and humili-
ty–of following MSU
athletics, Jim and Ruth
welcomed their second
son, Charles Martin (Mar-
ty) into the world in May
1977. The expanded fami-
ly continued their tradi-
tion of adventures, and in
1979 the family traveled
to Paris where they lived
for a year while Jim was
on sabbatical doing
research. While in France,
Jim and Ruth introduced
the boys to the culture
and flavor of France, in-
cluding les escargots and
the Palace of Versailles,
bouchons (traffic jams),
and the Tales of Albator (a
French anime-style space
pirate character that
would be reflected in the
kids’ costumes for years to
come). During that year,
Jim and Ruth also
designed what would be
the family home just out-
side of Starkville.
Upon returning State-
side, Jim and Ruth built
their dream home and
moved to Southgate-in-the
Woods where they wel-
comed their third son,
James Robert (Jimmy) in
September 1983. During
the years to follow, they
relished in watching the
boys grow, climb trees,
ride bikes, build forts in
the woods, play soccer,
and generally enjoy a
quiet childhood and be
rascals.
During his teaching
career at MSU, Jim taught
the history of science and
technology, quantitative
methods, and modern
French history and also
graded AP exams. In addi-
tion to his several book
length publications, Jim
wrote several dozen scho-
larly articles and opinion
pieces. He won nearly 20
different fellowships and
grants, including two
awards from the National
Endowment for the
Humanities. Jim retired
from Mississippi State in
May 2004 as Professor
Emeritus.
Throughout his life, Jim
enjoyed a variety of pas-
sions, including
wine-making, cooking
competitions, being the
“tickle monster,” and
camping, boating, and
traveling with the family.
The family often would
embark on month-long
camping trips that invari-
ably involved stopping for
every brown sign and his-
torical marker along the
highway. He would point
out to the boys how the
fence rows in the upper
Midwest plains would ex-
tend into the distance un-
til they dropped off the
horizon, and he would ex-
plain how the rural roads
in North Dakota zagged to
keep in line with the nar-
rowing lines of longitude.
He would stop whenever
the boys spotted a pile of
rocks that needed to be
climbed–even if they
had just stopped a few
miles before. While driv-
ing, he was usually hold-
ing Ruth’s hand as the
miles went by and Ruth
scanned that year’s Rand
McNally camping guide
looking for the next camp-
site.
Jim loved coaching the
boys’ various sports
teams, beginning with
volunteering to coach
Stopher’s first U-8 soccer
team in 1981–despite the
fact that at the time his
entire understanding of
the sport came from
watching “Soccer Made in
Germany” on the rare oc-
casion when it came on
the television. His soccer
coaching career continued
through Marty’s U-19
team and Jimmy’s U-14
state championship Red
Hot Chili Peppers
team–and on more than
one occasion found him
coaching two games at the
same time.
Jim’s work schedule as
a history professor afford-
ed him the greatest lux-
ury, in that he could gen-
erally be home when the
kids were at home. He
was at home to see the
boys on to the bus in the
morning, and was at
home when the boys got
off the bus after school,
when he would come
down from his study to
help with after-school
snacks and homework
and getting ready for
whatever extra-curricular
activities might consume
the late afternoon. In the
summers, when he taught
summer school, the boys
rode into town with him
and spent the hours ex-
ploring and playing on
State’s beautiful campus.
Summer afternoons and
weekends at Southgate
were often spent in an
endless stream of fixing
bike tires and chains for
all the neighborhood kids.
Fall in Starkville was
marked by tailgates and
football games. The spring
and summer found the
family enjoying the
greatest venue in college
sports, MSU’s Left Field
Lounge. The highlight of
the summer was the
family’s annual “Quatorze
Juillet” party, the Bastille
Day celebration that be-
came a staple for many
friends and family.
The family’s strongest
and most lasting tradition,
however, came in the
evenings throughout the
year, when, with only a
handful of exceptions, Jim
and Ruth would spend
time together in the
kitchen preparing the
evening meal before the
family sat down together
for supper. As with just
about everything else in
Jim’s life, these meals
were adventures, often in-
spired by their time in
France, and experiment-
ing with flavors and
themes, ranging from
Mediterranean mussels to
stuffed cabbage loosely
based off of Grandma
Haug’s recipe to Algerian
couscous. Only on holi-
days would the menu be
predictable–on those oc-
casions, snails would be
served in shells, smoth-
ered with butter, with
fresh baguettes, before the
main course of traditional
turkey and salads and
sides.
Jim had a wonderful
life, but, as life is prone to
do, it also presented Jim
with many challenges, in-
cluding a period of illness
and alcohol addiction
during which he lost his
way and developed some
serious long term medical
complications. He had an
amazing loyal, loving
partner and best friend in
Ruth. She stayed by his
side, as a constant source
of encouragement and
strength. He made it out
and made it back, but not
without suffering short
term and long-term im-
pacts.
Jim is remembered
fondly by those that knew
him as having a tremen-
dous love of life, and an
unwavering sense of jus-
tice and fairness and de-
cency, and an intellectual
honesty that guided his
views and outlook on life
and the world. He was al-
ways learning, and always
teaching. The lessons he
taught and passed on to
his children and
grandchildren, each of
whom he loved pas-
sionately and viewed with
tremendous pride, will
ensure that his legacy and
memory lives on.
Jim was preceded in
death by his father, Phi-
lip, and his mother,
Marie.
He is survived by his
loving wife, Ruth, his
three children, Stopher
(Lauren), Marty (Rowan),
and Jimmy (Emily), and
his seven grandchildren,
Nate, Sophie, Nolan,
Liam, Caroline, Stella,
and Luna, his sister, Judy,
and many nephews,
nieces, brothers-in-law,
and sisters-in-law.
A memorial will be held
at the Chapel of Memories
on the campus of Missis-
sippi State University on
Monday, October 3, 2022,
with a visitation at 10:00
a.m. followed by a cele-
bration of life service at
11:00 a.m.
In lieu of flowers, the
family suggests that gifts
and donations be made to
the CARE(Companion An-
imals Require Excellence)
Fund at Mississippi State
University’s College of
Veterinary Medicine that
provides support for im-
provements to veterinary
medical teaching,
research, and service
within the Animal Health
Center, by visiting:
https://www.vetmed.msstate.edu/alumni-
friends/opportunities-for-giving.
You can leave the fami-
ly a condolence at:
welchfuneralhomes.com.