Grandpa Howard

Several weeks ago I had Val tell me some things he remembered about his parents and grandparents. At that time his father was still living. He passed away November 1, 2009, and was buried November 9th. I will write about him next.

Howard J. Williams was born to Ivy Lee Jones and John Urie Williams August 23, 1915, at the family home in Enoch, Utah. They later moved to their farm between Cedar City and Enoch, and he grew up there. He attended Elementary School in Enoch, and went to Jr. High and High School in Cedar City. Their home on the farm was a couple miles from the Enoch school, and his transportation was a horse. He was the oldest child in the family, and as his younger sisters became old enough to go to school, he was responsible to see that they got there and back safely. His closest sister, Zelma, did not like to ride the horse, and he said she was not an easy passenger to have riding behind him. When Jen got old enough for school, they got another horse for Zelma, and Jen rode with him. He said she was so easy to ride with that he scarcely knew she was there. They rode the horses in all kinds of weather, snow, included. By the time they got to school on those frosty winter mornings, they were very cold children. When they got older and went to school in Cedar, they rode the Summit bus. My mother and Howard remembered each other from those days.

Howard participated in the usual farm work to help his father. His sisters milked the cows, though, so he didn't have to do that. He didn't want to be a farmer, though, when he grew up. He found that he had a talent for fixing cars, so that is what his occupation became.

In about 1938 he was introduced to Mary Wells of St. George through a friend, Henry Grimshaw. A courtship developed, and they were married June 1, 1939 in the St. George Temple.

They lived for a while in Cedar City, then Howard got work as heavy truck mechanic for a mining company in Leming, Nevada. Following that they moved to St. George, Utah, where he went to work at the Ford dealership. In 1945 he was drafted into the Navy where he prepared to serve in World War II. The war ended before he was to go overseas.

After his military service, he and Mary settled in St. George, and Howard worked for the Ford dealership for a total of 42 years. People who knew of his expertise with cars requested that Howard be the one to work on theirs.

They had three sons born to them, Val Dean, Clinton, and Richard. Some of Val's memories are as follows.

His dad always had a dog. He enjoyed hunting and fishing. He said his dad told of riding on the fender of the car when he and his friends would go out hunting rabbits. Val remembered a trip he and his dad took to California to buy a fishing boat. When he got it home he had a deck built on the front of it. Howard always loved cars and pickups, and he owned quite a few different ones during his lifetime. He didn't buy new ones, and some of them he bought to fix up.

When Val was a kid he delivered newspapers around the north and east sides of St. George. His dad bought a motorscooter and installed a second seat on it. On Sundays, especially, Howard took Val around to deliver the papers. He would be driving, with Val on the back and their dog, Penny, riding on the floor. Howard expected Val to help with yard work, etc., and Val remembers his dad marking off sections of weeds and salt grass to have dug up by the time he got home from work. Val says he usually procrastinated and didn't have it done in time. His dad would still make him do it. He was fussy about taking care of things - his cars, his tools and equipment, his yard, home, etc. He always kept his things in good order and expected the same of others. He was a clean, honest, hard-working man.

Val was lucky that his dad was a good car mechanic, and that he was interested in seeing that Val had something to drive when he got old enough. He remembers a 1950 Ford that they worked on together to fix up the interior and body, and Howard built up an engine for it from parts he had. It was maroon in color. Val said his dad wouldn't let him "hop it up." Later Howard acquired a 1957 Ford which he let Val buy from him. When Val went on his mission his dad sold it. Below is a picture of Howard and his boys about the time Val went on his mission.

My memories of Howard as his daughter-in-law are pleasant ones. He was kind of quiet but always respectful and friendly. One of the first kindnesses he show us as newlyweds was to let us take their new car on our honeymoon. We borrowed his pickup(s) and campers(s) several times before we bought our own.

When Val was in the Army, Howard made sure our car was kept in good condition. He and Mary would often come to Summit on Sunday afternoons, and when the car needed something done, he would drive it back to St. George, then return it the next weekend when they came up. The big attraction in Summit was little Chad. He was their first grandchild, and Howard made quite a fuss of him. When Chad got old enough to play, Howard would have him straddle his foot and give him horsie rides. They both giggled and enjoyed it.

When we lived in Texas and California, Howard and Mary came to visit us - to Texas once, and California several times. They enjoyed going to downtown San Antonio where the World's Fair had been held, and he went up to the top of the Tower with us. I think Mary stayed on the ground with Chad. Here they are arriving at our home in San Antonio. They enjoyed the river ride and seeing all the outdoor resturants and shops along the riverside.

I don't remember the year, but probably in the late 1970s, Howard had an accident at work that resulted in several surgeries. He was working inside a car, and forgetting that he had raised it up a couple of feet on the hoist, he stepped out of it backwards and fell to the floor. It broke his hip, and he had to have surgery to pin it in place. Later, he had to go back in and have the screws removed. And after that he had another surgery to replace the hip. The hip replacement came a year or so after Mary's death, May 3, 1981, and Howard came and spent time with us while it healed. He had a squawky little dog named Major that ran around his feet whenever he went out on crutches for his exercise, and I always worried that he would get tangled up in the leash and fall. I remember him being easy to do for and very appreciative.

Although he was never one to verbally express how he felt about Mary's death, he was lonely and missed her alot. He was assigned as a home teacher to a widow up the street, Barbara Sargant, and soon they became good friends. He wanted to marry her, but it took alot of persuasion because she had health problems and didn't think getting married was a good idea. She finally gave in, though, and they were married March 26, 1983. Life with Barbara was a new experience for him. She drew him out of his quiet, routine life, and took him to plays, concerts, and social gatherings with family and friends, more than he had ever experienced before. He learned to eat different foods and was faced with someone even more particular about the way things were done than he was. They had 19 good years of life together, even with all her health issues which eventually put a halt to most all socializing. They did continue to have family Christmas dinners at their house and were always glad to have us and others come visit - as long as we didn't bring in any scents or things that Barbara was allergic to.

Howard had to endure losing another wife when Barbara passed away March 25, 2002. It was very hard on him to be left alone, as he was getting old and tired (86), but he did remarkably well until about January 2005 when he had a bad sick spell. Upon his release from the hospital his sons moved him to a Beehive Assisted Living Home in St. George. He was very glad to live there where he didn't have to worry about anything any more. He stayed quite well until about the time of his 94th birthday this past August. He started to fail quite rapidly after that and finally left this life at 10:10 p.m. November 1, 2009.

The employees at the Beehive Home always had positive things to say about Howard. He was always cooperative, gentle, and never complained about anything. He really was a good, kind man who was very pleasant to be around. As a daughter-in-law, I loved him alot.