‘God moments’ lead a mom and daughter to live a rare teaching experience together

As daughter and mother respectively, Katie Huff and Kim Huff have lived the joy this school year of being co-teachers in the fourth grade at Holy Family School in New Albany. Their shared sense of fun shows in this photo from Katie’s graduation from the University of Cincinnati in 2025. (Submitted photo)

By John Shaughnessy

Kim Huff gets emotional in the way that many mothers do when they see their child happy and living a dream.

“You want so much for your kids,” Kim says as tears of joy fill her eyes as she talks about her 22-year-old daughter, Katie Huff.

Kim’s reaction is not just one of happiness for Katie. She feels that way for herself, too—because of the rare experience that this mother and daughter are sharing during this school year.

In her 34 years as a teacher at Holy Family School in New Albany, Kim has spent 33 of those years teaching fourth grade. And this year, Katie’s first as a teacher, she has joined her mom in teaching at Holy Family, as the other fourth-grade teacher.

“I wish everybody had the opportunity to get to see their child do what the good Lord has called her to do,” Kim says. “And the fact that I get to do that every day with Katie has just been so remarkable.”

Katie shares that feeling.

“I’ve always known I wanted to come back to Holy Family because it’s so special to me,” she says about the school where she, her two older sisters and her mom attended in their childhoods. “God just knew I really wanted to teach here and teach with my mom. And God was happy to give that to me. It’s ended up working out really well.”

Mother and daughter not only share that bond as co-teachers, they embrace what they consider as the most important part of their teaching.

“Sharing my faith with my students is the best part of my job,” Katie says. “It is hard for me to put into words how much this means to me. I always knew that I would teach in a Catholic school because I knew I wanted to share my love of Jesus with my students. I love to share my ‘God moments’ with them.”

So does her mom, including what Kim believes are two of the miracles that have touched her family’s life.

‘We knew God was looking out for her’

Stressing the power of prayer to her students, Kim shares the story of an accident that her brother had when he was a freshman in high school.

“He was rappelling off a cliff and the rope broke,” she recalls. “He fell several hundred feet, hitting trees before ending up in a ravine. Miraculously, he lived through it and broke no bones, but he was unconscious for several days due to swelling on his brain. Once that went down, he was able to regain consciousness and eventually made a full recovery. There were so many people praying for him, even people we didn’t know. Those prayers got my family through one of the scariest times of our lives.”

She also shares a story about her mom.

“She had been having some health issues and couldn’t find a doctor who could diagnose her correctly,” Kim begins. “It was only after I had learned about mini-strokes in a college course I was taking that I was able to insist that my mom go to the doctor because I thought the numbness she was experiencing in her arm was related to a mini-stroke.”

A doctor confirmed that Kim was right. At the same time, the exam revealed a deeper threat to her mom.

“The doctor discovered that my mom actually had a tumor inside her heart,” Kim says. “He was able to figure this out because he had seen a similar case during his residency. This was a rare thing and usually only discovered during an autopsy. We knew God was looking out for her. Eventually, you realize these things that seem like coincidences are actually ‘God moments.’ ”

Katie has her own treasury of stories that have brought her closer to God and the people in her life.

“We were talking about forgiveness in religion class, and I was asking them to share a time when they forgave someone, or someone forgave them,” she recalls. “They seemed to be giving silly answers, so I gave them a personal example of one of my mentors during my college student-teaching experiences. I told them that we did not get along very well, and that I went to confession about it. The priest told me that I needed to pray to forgive her every morning. 

“So, each morning, I would pray a Divine Mercy Chaplet for her. Eventually, our relationship changed, and I was able to forgive her. I told my students that all throughout our lives, we go through struggles with people, and sometimes we hold grudges. If we let these grudges stay without forgiving the person, they become settled in our hearts and keep building over the years. 

“I told them that as I started to pray more, God showed me all of the people that I had been holding grudges with, growing up. I shared with them that they need to start practicing forgiveness now so that they don’t become like me, 22 years old and having to forgive people from way back when I was in fourth grade myself!”

‘It makes me feel important and loved’

While they share the depth of their faith with their students, there is also a light-hearted approach to their teaching.

That quality showed early in the school year when they combined to create a fun video for an English/language arts unit about “first person.”

Mom and daughter sang and danced together in their video version of the song “I Wanna Talk about Me” by country singer Toby Keith, a song which includes the lyrics, “Wanna talk about I, Wanna talk about number one, Oh my, me, my.”

“That was fun,” Katie says. “It’s easier to be myself with her. It definitely allows us to have more fun and the kids to have more fun.”

The mother and daughter connection has been a hit with the fourth-grade students.

“I love their support when they talk to me,” Avery Miller says. “It makes me feel important and loved.”

Caroline Crofford notes, “My favorite part of having a mother and daughter duo is how they make us laugh.”

And Maja Luat adds, “It’s been confusing with the Mrs. and Ms., but it’s always full of love.”

The ringing endorsements continue from Amy Huber, Holy Family’s principal. She taught with Kim in the fourth grade for 23 years and was Katie’s fourth-grade teacher.

“The joy they have with each other is fun to watch,” Huber says. “They help ground each other and provide each other with support. They once walked these halls as students, and they are now guiding the next generation. Adding to this remarkable story, the legacy extends even further. Katie’s grandmother—Kim’s mother—was a secretary at Holy Family for many years.”

The irony of “this remarkable story” is that Kim was initially set against Katie becoming a teacher.

‘Oh, wow! That’s so cool!’

“We sometimes watch home videos now,” Kim says. “There’s one where I’m holding Katie as a baby, and my husband will say, ‘Did you ever think 20- something years later, you would be teaching partners?’ There was no way that ever crossed my mind. 

“I love teaching, but every year it becomes more challenging. Honestly, I just wasn’t sure if I wanted any of my girls to go down the same path. Not that it’s not a very rewarding job—because it is—but I also know how hard it is. And I was just hesitant on that. So when Katie came to me and told me she wanted to go into education, I said, ‘Oh, Katie!’ ”

Katie made that declaration shortly before she left to attend college at the University of Cincinnati, where she originally signed up to major in advanced medical imaging technology. But the more she thought about that path, the more her thoughts turned to her memories at Holy Family—staying after school while her mom prepared her class for the next day, roaming the empty halls in her socks, remembering how all the teachers always made school feel like home for her.

During breaks from college, Katie returned to Holy Family as a substitute teacher, a time of education for Kim, too, as she saw the gifts that her youngest daughter had as an educator. 

And all through college, Katie hoped there would be a teaching position open at Holy Family when she graduated. When one did in the fourth grade, Huber invited Katie in for a meeting.

“I went into her office, and she told me she wanted to offer me this job,” Katie says, the excitement of that moment still alive in her voice. “I signed [the contract] right there, and then I went into my mom’s classroom. I said, ‘Guess what?! She offered me the job!’ We were both laughing and crying and we hugged.

“You don’t hear about a mom and a daughter teaching on the same team together. People have been [like], ‘Oh, wow! That’s so cool!’ ”

Mother and daughter also feel thrilled to be part of a larger education team that includes Holy Family’s pastor, Father Jeremy Gries.

“Father Gries will end many of his homilies by reminding us of our mission here at Holy Family,” Katie says. “He will ask, ‘What do we do here at Holy Family?’ Students respond, ‘Help form saints.’ Then he asks, ‘Why do we help form saints?’ Students say, ‘To lead the Church and community to Christ.’

“I love this because I am reminded each time of the importance of my job—to get all these souls to heaven.”

Mom and daughter joyfully share that goal, a mission they will continue again as co-teachers for the next school year.

It’s all part of a journey together that Kim considers as another God moment. 

“God has a plan for all of us.” †