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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.