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William Howard
Born in United States
56 years
317711
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Life story
September 12, 1949
Born in United States Johnstown, PA on September 12, 1949.
May 9, 2006
Passed away on May 2, 2006.
October 16, 2006
Bill was born on September 12, 1949, a Monday at 11:00 AM in Memorial Hospital, Johnstown, PA. He was a beautiful baby with a wisp of blonde hair and blue eyes.
 
He was a colicky baby soon he developed to a healthy child.
 
He loved comic books and every night before he went to sleep we would read one. His Uncle Jack told me to teach him to read. I worked and he always looked forward to me bringing home a funny book. They only cost 10¢ back then.
 
He enjoyed playing cowboys and Indians. He would lay a blanket on the floor in front of the TV and formed hills in it. For Christmas when he was 8 we all got together and got him a red and black cowboy suit with fringes, boots and a hat. Grandma Bollington (Bella) got him a set of guns with gold metal holsters. He told me that was the best Christmas present he ever got.
 
He loved to play ball, getting his sister Deb to pitch for him. When one of the boys fought with Bill – she would kick them and tell them to leave her brother alone. They always had a close relationship.
 
He learned to play poker from Granddad Bollington, of course Granddad won but we would give his pennies back at the end of the game.
 
He had s special relationship with Grandma Bella. He always rubbed her head with his knuckles and she pretended to be mad and then they would both laugh.
 
I took him to the dentist and he dentist and he gave Bill a plastic tube with a cork in it (very small). It didn’t take Bill long to get the cork out and he immediately put it up his nose – I rushed him to old Doc Grazier’s office where the doc proceeded to remove it, telling me to hold Bill still. Bill moved and the doc said “God damn it mother! I told you to hold him still.” Needless to say I did and the cork was removed.
 
Then all of a sudden he was a teenager and we agreed to disagree. Most of the time Bill won and on occasion he would let me win.
 
He was quite a Romeo. Calling girls – then coming to the house.
 
He took lessons on the organ and guitar. He and his friends started a band. They practiced in the dining room only when his father was at work. They played songs like “Gloria” and “House of the Rising Sun”. They had one gig, at Westmont Gardens, on New Year’s Eve. He had a 16th birthday party and the band played.
 
He worked at Baron’s Greenhouse where he developed his love of gardening. He also developed a terrible sunburn. I put wet towels on his back and the dried up immediately so I called Dr. Gress at 8:00 PM and he told me to get some Barbasol shaving cream and pat it gently on his back. It worked!
 
He was a very giving person and he gave me $2.00 for a pair of shoes (a whole day’s pay from the Greenhouse). He also worked at the Moxham Dairy Dell.
 
Its now Graduation Day and off to Point Park College in Pittsburgh. At the time they were having racial riots and they locked down the dorm and Bill called and told me to pick him up. So Bella, Jody and Jon and me piled into Bella’s car and went to get him. Pittsburgh was shut down and it was 8:00 PM when we arrived. I had never driven outside of Johnstown before and when we were leaving Pittsburgh I turned into the oncoming lane. But Bill quickly corrected my mistake and we made it home through the riots.

His best friend, Renada Marissa, loved mashed potatoes. Bill would always give him some while Renada waited on the porch for Bill to finish dinner. Renada moved to Morrelville but Bill and he would still get together. One day I was them up in front of the Johnstown War Memorial – I was late because I also had to pick up Deb and her friends. The police made Bill and Renada move across the street to the Johnstown High School to wait. When Deb and I arrived Bill and Renada were fighting with 3 black men. The fight was about a mugging and when the boys didn’t have any cash the fight began. I blew the horn and we threw open the doors but Bill and Renada were being chased. One got to the driver’s window and began punching into the car. We escaped and when directly to the police station but they said the boys were likely long gone.
 
Bill was active in St. Mark’s youth group.
 
He loved pinochle and we spent many hours enjoying the game together.
 
Another Romeo story. Once he borrowed my Corvair to go on a date. I got a telephone call saying he was stuck in the mud of a newly plowed field up in Soap Hollow. I said, “What the hell were you doing parked in the field’? I had to have the car towed. Bill never would tell.
 
 When his first year of college was complete and Bill couldn’t find a job so he went and enlisted in the Army. He brought the paper’s home for my signature and we disagreed but he won and I signed. It was fate because he met his lovely wife Glenda, the love of his life. They were meant for each other and it made me happy to see Bill so happy. They had a simple but beautiful wedding, Glenda carrying a single red rose down the aisle. We went to the reception at their new home. They had beer in the kitchen sink covered with ice and lilacs. Glenda gave me a tour, taking me upstairs and saying “isn’t this beautiful’? The stairs were so steep I thought I was going to break my neck. It was beautiful because beauty was in the eye of the beholders of this young love.
 
Bill overcame all the things that an alcoholic father can dish out and that was many…
 
Glenda and Bill blessed us with three grandsons, David, Aaron and Seth and their partners Val, Steph and Jenna and with three great-grandchildren Maddy, Olivia and Cole.
 
Bill came home during Christmas of 2004. He thanked me for what I had done for him – encouraging him to get his education.
 
Larry (his stepfather) and I have a lot of great memories of our trips to New Hampshire and we are very proud of the way Bill lived his life. 
 
He will be missed be all of his – his family. His sister Debo, the leech, brothers Jody and Jon and their wives Aleta and Courtney, nephews Justin and his wife Kelly, Jonathan, Jason and Robert and his niece’s Jenna and Lee. And all of Glenda’s family, especially his yard sale buddy and mother-in-law Jean.
 
Love Mom and Larry and all who knew you.
 
PS: Recently he bought a Fort Apache so he could play Cowboys and Indians with his grandchildren…