Condolences - William Arthur "Bill" Howard
Trudy may the Lord wrap his arms around you and give you the strength you need until you meet Bill again. So sorry sending love and prayers 🙏
Trudy may the Lord wrap his arms around you and give you the strength you need until you meet Bill again. So sorry sending love and prayers 🙏
Tribute to my Dad by Joe Howard So much of what makes up who I am and the core things that are important to me came from dad. Despite being somewhat embarrassed about it as a kid, I find myself picking up the occasional nail or screw on a sidewalk because, as dad said, “someone might be hurt by it.” I’m equally comfortable speaking with a governor or janitor, just like he was. My children were tucked into bed with a prayer and the same brer rabbit stories I heard from dad 40 years before. It was a comfort to me at the time, just as it was for my children. Dad had the normal pressures of life and worked extra jobs to provide for us but he always put his family first, just as I have. As perhaps you’ve observed from the slideshow, dad had a love of the outdoors. Hiking, hunting and fishing were in his blood, just as they are for me. In particular, there is a picture in the slideshow from when I was 9 years old where dad had taken all 4 of us kids fishing. In the picture, he is pulling a hook out of the back of my shirt. Looking back on that now, I don’t know how he mustered the courage to attempt taking 4 children under 9 years old fishing at the same time. He was obviously not doing any fishing himself in that situation. Many years later on an overnight camping trip with my children (ages 9 & 5), I decided to take them fishing at a nearby pond as part of our adventure. The picture from 1969 was clearly in my mind while I was planning the event. As we were walking down the hill carrying our fishing gear toward the pond, Emily asked, “Where’s your fishing pole, dad?” This question caught me off guard but I happily smiled to myself and answered, “I thought we’d work on fishing together.” Thanks, dad, for the wonderful foundations of life you provided. Mom – thanks for being the lifelong helpmate to dad. Together you worked to make our lives full of love and good things. I want to express special thanks to my sisters Julia and Teresa who provided much of the extra care dad needed in his last years. Julia spent many overnights in my parent’s home and is a seemingly tireless cleaner and organizer. Teresa especially has extended herself by carrying the day-to-day responsibilities of doctor visits, organizing dad’s medicine each week and being so concerned for his well-being as to provide backrubs and a kiss. Dad heard many times from her, “I love you daddy.”
My Tribute to Dad by Chris Howard Good evening. On behalf of my family I wanted to thank you all for coming today to honor our father Bill Howard. I want to say a few words about him, and what he has meant to me in in my life. I think it’s probably common that you don’t really appreciate your parents as much as you should until you get older, and can empathize with some of the struggles that life brings. My dad was very family oriented, which I think I kind of took for granted when I was growing up. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized how many people may have a loving relationship with their children, but don’t really dedicate their time to their family. Our dad grew up in a large family during and after the great depression. Their life on the farm was difficult. Dad had to leave school so that he could help out on the family farm. That is pretty amazing when you think about what that would do to a young person to have to leave their education to help their family. I think one of the biggest life lessons from him that I’ve learned is he taught us that if you are honest and you work hard, you will do good at whatever your profession is. I think that has served me very well, in my professional career. Dad never complained about hard work. Even though he had a full-time job, he would always take on extra work, painting houses or doing maintenance just to make extra money to support our family. He always had time for his family, he spent a lot of time taking us camping, hunting, fishing, and visiting family. Some of my best memories of him are going to train our beagle hunting dogs. I really enjoyed helping him raise our dogs and training them to hunt and spending time with him. He would do anything needed to help friends or family, just as one example, His brother Dane was sick with cancer and really could not get his tobacco crop to market. I worked several days with dad and my great uncle Andrew, in Dane’s barn striping tobacco, making it into bundles ready for the market so he could sell it, Dad never wanting anything in return and refused to take any money for his time, He just wanted to help his brother during a rough time in his life. That was a great life lesson for me and although I really didn’t like stripping tobacco and having tar that I could not seem to get off my hands, it was a great life lesson of how to put others needs in front of your own. Countless times he would help neighbors planting their gardens, working on their house or anything that was needed and never wanted anything in return, he was truly a selfless man who put others before himself He was always good to our family and our mom, I don’t ever remember him raising his voice to her and set a great example of love and kindness He wasn’t much for waiting or dealing with unnecessary nonsense, or as he would say I don’t want to see all that foolin’ around and foolin’ around, which his way of saying wasting time. Our dad was a big homebody, so it was a great comfort to me that he was able to stay in this house and have in-home care. I’m extremely grateful that his last few months on earth were spent in his home where he was most comfortable. I’m very grateful for my family and their dedication to our father. My brother, my mom and especially my two sisters were very dedicated to our father. They have given up a lot of their time with family and friends to make sure dad was comfortable and well taken care of. I will always be very appreciative of that dedication we had to our father. In closing, I would just like to say, I think we could use a lot more men like him in our world. I think it would be a much better place. We love you dad, and appreciate the example you set for us all.
Tribute to my dad by Julia (Howard) Helms 8/9/2023 I would like to read one of my father’s favorite scriptures. He shared this with me many years ago. Luke 11:11. Jesus said “If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will you give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” This scripture touched my dad’s heart. The Holy Spirit opened my dad’s eyes that day to show him the character & the great magnitude of His love. It is beyond my comprehension when I think of just how great a love that God has for each one of us. My dad gave us good gifts. He did his best to show our family the same love that God had revealed to him through that scripture many years ago.