Hughes, Rufus Ralph, II, 1998 May 08

This is a Living History interview with Rufus Ralph Hughes II, class of 1960, conducted by Marilyn Somers on May the 8th, 1998 at the Georgia Tech Alumni Faculty House in Atlanta, Georgia. The subject of the interview is student life at Georgia Tech, and also Professor Hughes’ experiences as a professor at Georgia Tech.

Mr. Hughes was born in Oxford, Mississippi. He grew up living in a house right next to William Faulkner’s house. Although Mr. Hughes did not like his name growing up, he came to respect it during his late twenties. Mr. Hughes’ family moved from Mississippi to Arkansas when he was nine years old. Beginning in eighth grade, Mr. Hughes went to a Military Academy in Suwanee, Tennessee. He went there until he graduated from high school. He was not accepted to West Point, so he decided to go to Georgia Tech. During his freshman year, he was placed in advanced English and remedial math. He lived in Darlington Apartments during his sophomore year and had very interesting study habits. Mr. Hughes had to use both sides of his brain during college, the right side for studio and the left for physics. Judy Harris was a professor at Georgia Tech while Mr. Hughes was a student. P.M. Heffernan was Mr. Hughes mentor and critic during his fifth year. Mr. Hughes designed an all female Episcopal School for his senior thesis. Mr. Hughes’ social life was very boring. A lot of the veterans on campus took the work very seriously. Mr. Hughes’ family owns a 22,000 acre farm in Arkansas. He turned down a job offer from Joe Massaro after he graduated from college. His first major job was working on the Life of Georgia building on west Peachtree. He then worked for Bull and Kenny, then for Eck and Associates. Mr. Hughes left Eck and Associates on two separate occasions, each time realizing he had a better job with Eck and Associates. He worked on a restoration project for Dick Eck’s house for a year. The first firm Mr. Hughes tried to start was a disaster because his partner was lazy. He then decided to teach at Georgia Tech and start his own firm by himself. Dale Durfee and Mr. Hughes created their own firm after entering a competition together. One of Mr. Hughes’ tougher projects was the relocation of the Butler Shoe Company. Mr. Hughes’ experience as a professor was great, but he thought that the campus environment was the “pits”. Mr. Hughes worked hard to expand the Architecture program while he was a professor. A lot of Mr. Hughes’ students graduated and did architecture work. Some of the more interesting professors that Mr. Hughes had were “Batman” Brown and Professor Navarre. He remembers that the students were very rowdy back then. Mr. Hughes has been around the Georgia Tech community long enough to see how its administration, campus, and students have changed. Mr. Hughes has two sons, one step son, one step daughter, and one grandchild. He is very ready to retire.