Whitley V. Huffaker; Retired Store Owner

Whitley Van Nuys Huffaker, who was given his middle name because he was the first child born in Van Nuys after the town was founded in 1911, has died at a Van Nuys convalescent hospital. He was 79.

Huffaker of Sherman Oaks, owner of Huffaker’s Auto Parts in North Hollywood for more than 40 years, died Sunday of heart failure, said his daughter, Linda Hunt.

Born Oct. 18, 1911, he was named after H. J. Whitley and Isaac Newton Van Nuys, two of the three men who had founded the town eight months earlier.

A 1930 graduate of Van Nuys High School, Huffaker went to work for his father, George, who had recently opened Huffaker’s Auto Parts on Lankershim Boulevard. Upon his father’s death in 1933, Huffaker became owner of the large auto parts store and machine shop until he sold the business and retired in the mid-1970s.

A deep-sea and trout fisherman, Huffaker was president of the Exchange Club of North Hollywood in the late 1950s, a 25-year board member and president in 1968 of the California Automotive Wholesalers Assn., and a member of the Southern California Jobbers Assn.

He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Zella Huffaker; son Gary Huffaker of Van Nuys; daughters Linda Hunt of Mariposa, Calif., and Kathleen Prewett of Eureka; sister Lolita McDonald of South Lake Tahoe; 11 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

Services will be private. Forest Lawn Mortuary, Hollywood Hills, is handling the arrangements. Contributions can be made in Huffaker’s name to a charity of the donor’s choice.