Profile
by Tess Chierici
Instead of listening to Keith Green preach, Dr. and Mrs. Hauff talked during the concert.
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Bible professor is a
man of many talents
Dr. Hauff grades papers in his office. -Tess Chierici, photo
"We just knew that God didn't want us to have kids," Dr. Hauff said. "We knew when we got married if we were to ever have kids it would be to adopt them. That's OK; all our friends are having our 2.5 plus their 2.5."
"I think we would raise good kids; we love them," Mrs. Hauff said.
"Yeah, we like kids," Dr. Hauff said. "It just wasn't a desire we had in our hearts."
Dr. Hauff and his wife met in the cafeteria line at Eastern Washington University. He overheard Mrs. Hauff and her friend, Heather, talking about a Keith Green concert in Spokane. "He was my hero. He started me writing music," Dr. Hauff said. "So I asked them innocently, 'Hey, can I catch a bus out of here to Keith Green?' and Kath said innocently, 'Why don't you come with us?'"
The concert turned out to be a long sermon. "In three hours he did three songs," Dr. Hauff said. Instead of listening to Keith Green preach, Dr. Hauff and Mrs. Hauff talked, or rather laughed, during the entire concert.
"Unfortunately, Heather kind of got left out," Mrs. Hauff said.
"Well, she just didn't get us," Dr. Hauff said. "She didn't have the same sense of humor. We just cracked up the entire time. And Keith sucked."
At the time of the concert, Mrs. Hauff was engaged to another man. "My mom died that year, and I think I was just reacting," she said. "We started going out and almost immediately got engaged. It was stupid, and I knew that it wasn't going to last. So Tom was sort of a good excuse."
During the three years they dated, Dr. and Mrs. Hauff had a tradition of frequenting the Winchell's Donuts in Spokane, Wash., 20 miles away. "We would get up really early, like 2 in the morning and get doughnuts and a show, 'cause all the drunks and crack heads would be in there talking to their food," Dr. Hauff said. "It was really fun."
Mrs. Hauff was attracted to Dr. Hauff's musical abilities. "He is a musician. He plays the piano really well. He used to do concerts and write his own music," she said.
For their wedding, Dr. Hauff wrote Mrs. Hauff a song.
"Right now he is taking guitar lessons; he loves it," Mrs. Hauff said.
Dr. Hauff's piano and electric guitar are located in the newly added living room. The windows still need wood frames, which Dr. Hauff plans to build. The Hauff's home is scattered with the many the wooden gifts Dr. Hauff has made for his wife, including an elaborate bookshelf and small table that opens to store all of her crochet work.
Color is the unique aspect of the Hauff's home: a lavender-colored weight room is located right off the foyer, and their house is pink with raspberry trim. Mrs. Hauff picked out the pink, Dr. Hauff picked out the raspberry, and MBC Professor Dave Jongeward and his son painted the house, which now stands out from the rest of the homes in the Hauff's Vancouver, Wash., suburb.
"We're home bodies," Dr. Hauff said. One year for their anniversary, Mrs. Hauff thought going the Oregon coast would be nice considering they had lived in Portland for six years and never visited the beach. She made reservations at a hotel for two nights.
"Our room had a huge jacuzzi, an L-shaped sitting area and glass doors; the ocean was right there. It was fabulous," Dr. Hauff said.
"We ate a whole pie; we love eating together," Mrs. Hauff said. "But then we looked at each other that evening and said, 'Do you want to stay another night? No.' One night! We were only going to stay two nights!"
"We broke our reservation," Dr. Hauff said. "We couldn't make it."
Dr. Hauff has, however, lived in England on and off while attending the University of Sheffield for his doctorate. For the rest of the two years he emailed his adviser back and forth. Dr. Hauff choose to get his doctorate overseas because he wanted to do his own research. "I had two master's degrees; I didn't need any more time in school," he said. "The British system is to study for three or four years. There are no tests, nothing. Then you have a last interview with two professors." Dr. Hauff said that if the interviewers didn't like your work, they could give you nothing.
During Dr. Hauff's interview, one of the interviewers tried to insult him. "She looked at me with this disgusted look on her face," Dr. Hauff said. "She goes, 'You know what? You write like a teacher, not like a scholar.'"
He and his wife love having students over to their home. However, a word of warning: Students can't escape the Hauff's home without feeling welcome, whether it be the goodbye hugs or the blatant disregard for formality: "You aren't leaving until you eat more hot dogs," Dr. Hauff said. "Eat more hot dogs!" And by the way, he likes being called Tom.
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