Meet Harrybill Huffman, donor of over 24 gallons of blood.
Harrybill was born in the 1930’s in Ava, a small town in Southern Missouri, the youngest of two boys of Fay and Arthur Huffman. Harrybill’s brother Bob was the older brother, and father to Jim Huffman (heart transplant recipient), also featured in this website.
The Huffman family was a hard-working family, rich in moral values and tradition. In addition to daily hard work, sports and athletics were also an important aspect of daily life. Arthur Huffman was known to be a talented baseball player, earning a St. Louis Browns baseball team tryout. The boys inherited this athletic ability, with Harrybill equally skilled in baseball as his father, in addition to being actively involved in softball, basketball and more, well into his 50s.
In high school, Harrybill was also known for his rugged good looks, bright blue eyes and charming smile, which earned him “Prince Charming” honors. It was during high school that he began donating blood. He was so young, he needed and received written permission from his mother to donate. After his mother gave blood, she fainted. Harrybill took it upon himself, the responsibility to donate blood for his entire family and more, which lead him to a life long mission of blood donation.
After high school graduation, Harrybill married his high school sweetheart, Cleo Peterson. The couple were known as “Blue Eyes and Blondie.” Soon after marriage, Harrybill joined the Army, where he was deployed to the Korean War. Returning home, he and his wife moved to Springfield where they started their family, eventually having two daughters – Cindy and Cheri.
Harrybill spent his career at Kraft Foods, retiring in 1991, while his wife, Cleo embraced a career in banking, retiring in 2003. The couple have two grandchildren, Kinsey Cook and Catherine Hamlin. As a toddler, Kinsey named her grandfather “Do-Daddy.” Kinsey loves spending time with her grandparents MeMa and Do-Daddy, and the beloved Do-Daddy name stuck. It was not unusual to see the sparkling clean red Chevy truck around town proudly displaying personalized license plates of “Do-Dady.”
Facts about Harrybill Huffman’s Blood Donation
- Donating over 24 gallons of blood is equal to over 192 pints.
- According to the American Red Cross, the average red blood cell transfusion is approximately 3 pints. Huffman could have transfused over 64 people.
- There are four types of transfusable products that can be derived from blood: red cells, platelets, plasma and cryoprecipitate. Typically, two or three of these are produced from a pint of donated whole blood – hence each donation can help save up to three lives. Based on this, Huffman may have helped over 576 people.
- Donors can give either whole blood or specific blood components only. The process of donating specific blood components – red cells, plasma or platelets – is called apheresis. Huffman donated both methods.