Thomas Huber

Thomas Artyom Huber died on May 6, 2016 at St. Mary’s hospital in Grand Junction after being hit by a car the night before. Thomas was born Artyom Kostyuk to Valeriy Ivanovych and Lyudmyla Olexandrivna Kostyuk in Poltava, Ukraine on June 28, 1996. He moved to the village of Zorivka as an infant where he was raised primarily by his great-grandmother. Thomas’ sister Viktoria was born when he was 5 and he helped care for her for the first two years of her life. They both were placed in separate orphanages in the Cherkasy region when their great-grandmother could no longer care for them. Two year later, at age nine, Thomas was reunited with his sister when they were adopted by Jeff and Tami Huber. As part of the adoption process, Artyom chose the English name Thomas after being told the story of doubting Thomas by his English translator. On their first day as an official forever family, Thomas, Viktoria, Jeff and Tami celebrated Thanksgiving Day with chicken Kiev in Kiev since they don’t eat turkey in Ukraine.
Upon arriving in Durango in November, 2005 Thomas attended Riverview Elementary School and then Miller Middle School. He spent part of one semester attending high school in Durango and then completed the therapeutic program at Cedar Ridge Academy and Boarding School in Roosevelt, Utah. In his early years Thomas excelled at playing soccer since he played that often as a young child in Ukraine. Because of his natural athletic ability, he quickly picked up golf, baseball, American football, lacrosse and enjoyed just about every kind of athletic activity where competition was involved.
Thomas was able to travel to Africa as part of a mission team from his church in 2011 where he worked with orphans at the Hope for Orphan Rescue and Education Center two hours from Nairobi, Kenya. He helped his 6th grade class at Miller raise enough money to put electricity in the boy’s dorm at the orphanage so the boys could do their homework at night. Thomas also traveled to the Holy Land in 2014 and loved spending time at the Western Wall at midnight in prayer.
The Family would like to thank the Riverview Elementary Community for their tremendous support when Thomas Artyom first came to Durango, the staff of Miller Middle School for their encouragement and the members and friends of First United Methodist Church for their presence and prayers for Thomas these past 10 years.
We will remember Thomas for his laughter, strong opinions, big feet, dimples, his bright and beautiful smile and his ability to learn English in just a few months. He was preceded in death by his biological parents and a younger sister. Thomas is survived by his sister Viktoria; parents Jeff and Tami Huber; grandparents Judy, Mark, Barb, John and Terry; numerous aunts and uncles and cousins; and CJ.
In lieu of flowers, gifts may be given to the memorial fund for Thomas Huber at the First United Methodist Church which will be given to the Institute for Attachment and Child Development in Littleton, CO, http://instituteforattachment.org. A service of remembrance and celebration will be held Monday, May 23 at 6 p.m. at the Fort Lewis College Ballroom in Durango, CO.