Obituaries

Howard Eugene Records

Photo of Howard Eugene Records
Howard Eugene Records, 98, of Rogers passed away Sept. 26, 2013, at his home. He was born Sept. 1, 1915, in Deer River, Itasca County, Minn. He was Harold Spencer and Mary Edith Morrow Records' third child. After his mother died in 1917, he and his siblings were sent to live with their aunt and grandfather on their orchard in Yakima, Wash. In 1922, they moved to Southern California, eventually settling in Hawthorne in 1926. He graduated from Inglewood High School in 1933 and graduated from the Bible Institute of Los Angeles in 1935. In 1934, he was a charter member of Calvary Presbyterian Church in Hawthorne. Howard first attended UCLA, but he transferred and graduated from the College of Agriculture at the University of California in Berkeley on Dec. 18, 1941, with a major in entomology. He missed serving in the military due to a spot on his lungs, which was found during an examination after he applied for a bombardier/navigator position with the Air Force. His first job was with the California Bureau of Plant Pathology, and he worked as an agricultural inspector for Los Angeles County from 1943-1975. He met his wife, Katherine Kovacs, on the job while making quarantine inspections at the Railway Express Agency in Los Angeles where she worked. They were married in June 1945 in her hometown of Pocahontas, Va. Because the wedding was in Pocahontas, Katherine was the only person there whom he knew, but he was quickly loved by the entire family and larger Hungarian community. He often said that this was the first time that he really had a family. Howard and Katherine returned to the Los Angeles area where he learned Hungarian and became the chief elder of the First Hungarian Reform Church of Los Angeles. After retiring, Howard and Katherine moved to Federal Way, Wash., to be near their son, Michael, and his family. After three years, they decided to live in sunnier places, so they came to Rogers where their daughter, Barbara, and her family lived. Katherine died in 1996 after 50 wonderful years of marriage. Here they bought the Blackburn House in 1978 and Howard was responsible for most of its restoration. The house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988 because of his years of effort and work. His son, Michael, recently wrote: "The grandson of a physician/farmer and the son of a carpenter/educator, he was blessed with the rare combination of intellect and hands-on skills. I never saw a repairman at our house. If something needed fixing, he fixed it. I once saw him rip an eight-foot 2x4 using a handsaw and his thumb as a gauge, and it came out looking as if it had been cut on a table saw." Howard was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Rogers, singing in the choir just as he had at his other churches since 1934. He was a member of the Friends of the Rogers Library and a lifetime member of the Friends of the Rogers Historical Museum, serving on the museum commission in the 1980s. He was an emeritus member of the Entomological Society of America. He is survived by his son, Michael Records and wife, Valerie, of Tacoma, Wash.; his daughter, Barbara Allen of the home; his granddaughter, Laurie Yokoyama, husband, Joji, and their children, Benjamin and Sammie Kay of Federal Way, Wash.; his grandson, Paul Records of Palm Springs, Calif.; his grandson, Spencer Allen and wife, Laura, of the home; his grandson, Thomas Howard Records and wife, Maria; and his granddaughter, Katherine Allen-Goebel and husband, Matthew, of San Pablo, Calif. His Peruvian "granddaughter" Veronikha Salazar of Arkadelphia will also miss him. Memorial services will be 2 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 30, 2013, at the First Presbyterian Church of Rogers. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the First Presbyterian Church Choir Fund, Circle of Life Hospice or the Ozark Food Bank, c/o Benton County Funeral Home, 306 N. Fourth St., Rogers, AR 72756. Online condolence may be sent to www.bentoncountyfuneralhome.com.

Published September 28, 2013

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