Longtime welding instructor shaped metal — and student lives

Ed Hue was a welder.

But he didn’t just cut, join and shape steel; he also shaped lives.

So many lives during his 29 years teaching welding at Columbia Basin College in Pasco.

He loved his work. And he loved his students.

In return, his students loved him.

So much so that more than a dozen of them helped craft a final tribute — a casket made from carbon steel and embellished with personal touches.

“To have so many people want to come and help with it was amazing,” said Margaret Hue, Ed’s wife.

Hue, 71, died in July after a 13-month battle with multiple myeloma cancer.

The family looked to buy a casket, but none seemed right. They didn’t match the man — so strong and able, so humble, faithful and loving.

So the Hues made their own, led by sons Todd and Edward, and two former students, Kevin Self and Luke Jackson, whom Hue thought of as kin.

The finished product is about 6 feet by 1 1/2 feet. It has the Chevrolet symbol — Hue loved Chevys — plus the word “Hue” and a cross, both fashioned from horseshoes.

For Self, who met Hue in the late 1970s at CBC, taking part in the project was meaningful.

“Ed gave so much. One thing I can tell you about him — he gave to so many people, and he asked for nothing,” Self said. “It was an honor thing for me. To honor Ed. (We were doing) the things he taught us to do.”

Oliver Edward “Ed” Hue Jr. was born and raised in Pasco. “At age 12, he began laying out and cutting pipe for his dad to make irrigation pipe trailers for the farmers in the Columbia Basin,” his obituary said.

He was so good he earned the nickname “Steady Eddie.”

Hue studied welding at CBC, going on to work in the Seattle shipyards and as a pipefitter/welder in Bellingham.

He moved back to the Tri-Cities in the late ’70s to teach welding at his alma mater.

While at CBC, he met Margaret.

A Nebraska native, she’d recently finished her master’s degree in vocational education and decided to stop by the college while in town visiting friends.

She ended up doing Hue a favor — picking up his pal, Butch Eide, from the airport. Hue later called to thank her, and a connection was made.

The Hues lost touch with Eide over the years. Margaret said she’d like to find him now because he was there at the start of their love story.

Of their long and lasting partnership.

She and her husband were best friends, Margaret said. They enjoyed each other’s company. They loved being together, being with their kids.

In addition to sons Todd and Edward, the couple also are parents to daughters Annalene and Kathleen and have a brood of grandkids.

Along with welding and teaching, Hue also farmed.

He learned to snow ski at age 53.

He and Margaret bought a cabin near Cheney and loved to fish there.

While at CBC, Hue served as apprenticeship coordinator for Eastern Washington and was active in the state welding instructors association.

“He had so much pride in vocational education and people learning a skill,” Margaret said.

He liked knowing that the men and women who went through his program could find good jobs and take care of their families — as he always did.

He was such a good man, his wife said, standing by the casket so lovingly made for him. “He will be greatly missed by a lot of people.”

A graveside service is at 10 a.m. Aug. 12 at City View Cemetery in Pasco. A luncheon will follow at the Hue home at 29204 S. 816 PR S.E., Kennewick.

In lieu of flowers, people are asked to make donations to the Hue Memorial Scholarship for Welding via the Columbia Basin College Foundation, 2600 N. 20th Ave., Pasco.

This story was originally published August 8, 2016 at 6:58 PM with the headline "Longtime welding instructor shaped metal — and student lives."