Roy Howe Papers

"Roy and Emelia 'Milly' (Enders) Howe by Emelia Howe

Roy Howe, the sixth son of Clarence and Mary Howe, was borh March 18, 1912, east of Velva, North Dakota. He attend the Howe School in 1929. He had the milk route while going to school.

In 1929, he left home and worked on farms west of Minot. Later he rented the Con Wiley farm east of Velva. In 1934, he met his wife, Emelia Enders (Milly) who was working for the Sollids at Simcoe.

They were married January 7, 1935, and farmed for two years at Velva. They then moved to the Vic Cowell farm near Verendrye and farmed from 1935-1943 when they sold out and bought the Nick Abel store in Verendrye. Their store was known as Roy and Milly Howe's Corner Store. It really was rough to get started. There wasn't the money to buy, but they made it. When Roy has has first bad heart attack, the Great Northern train was stopped, the engineer carried him to the engine, and an ambulance picked him up at the first crossing. He had many more attacks.

Roy and Emelia helped many others and worked faithfully in the church. Roy rented the hall in Verendrye where they had dances. Before they left the farm, he had a basketball team, the 'Town Team.' He hauled the school boys' and girls' basketball teams when they played out of town. The town was closing up. The depot, elevator, and post office were moved. The school closed. So Roy got a job in Minot in 1957 at Mitchell Hardware. They bought the Great Northern pumphouse and tore it down. In 1958, they built their home in Minot. They had an auction sale at the store in July and moved in August. Roy had many more heart attacks. The doctor told him to quit working at Mitchell's. In 1960, he began working at the Moose Lodge. On August 4th, 1967, Roy went to work in the morning and passed away at 11 am."

Source: McHenry County: its history and its people. 1985