Howard S. Ellsworth

Howard S. Ellsworth was born September 30, 1923. He was one of six children born to Howard and Thera Ellsworth. His father worked for the railroad as a train engineer and died when Dad was quite young.  His mother worked as a registered nurse.

The family had a small farm and Dad and his brothers worked the farm to help his family make ends meet. The Great Depression had begun and the hardships he and his family experienced shaped much of his life as it did so many people of his time.

His day began with feeding the farm animals with his brothers, and his particular chore was to get his mother’s car started so she could get to work at the hospital.  The car was a Stanley Steamer, which was a difficult car to start by hand on cold Connecticut mornings.

He and his brothers and sister attended a one-room school, which was elementary through high school graduation. Dad well remembered the time he was excused from class to use the outhouse and witnessed the Hindenburg flying over the school. The airship from Germany had just crossed the Atlantic and was bound for its disastrous landing in New Jersey.

When World War II broke out, he had begun college and completed two years while working various jobs to pay for school. He enlisted in the Navy in 1944. Because of his education, particularly science, he was trained as a Medical Corpsman.  Assigned to the hospital ship USS Benevolence, he served in the Pacific theatre, treating and caring for the many Marines wounded during island invasions.

His ship was the third American vessel to enter Tokyo bay. The signing of the Japanese surrender was on the battleship anchored next to him. His hospital ship immediately began taking on American prisoners of war. He remembered their emaciated and diseased condition many years later. While on shore leave with other members of the medical staff he saw the destruction of the city of Tokyo. Like so many men who served he did not talk about the war much, but would say, “War is a terrible thing.”  He mourned the loss of his Grandson, Jared Shoemaker a Marine serving in Iraq who was killed in 2006.  He was very proud of Jared’s service to his country.

Once discharged from the Navy he began to use his newly acquired GI bill to finish his education. He was accepted to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, but upon arrival at the school the registrar informed him that many of his college credits would not transfer and that he could not enroll after all! Years later when his son Bob transferred from one college to another and many of his credits did not transfer he remarked, “Some things just never change!”

Intent on finishing college; he caught a bus to Harrogate, Tennessee and enrolled in Lincoln Memorial University. It was there that he met Betty Oaks. They were married in 1948, and she was the mother of his four children, Bob, Linda, JoAnne, and Susan.  Dad had 13 Grandchildren and 22 Great Grandchildren.

Upon graduating as teachers they moved to Gallup New Mexico. Friends and family asked “Why Gallup?”  He said at the time it was the best pay for teachers in the country. Once, in New Mexico though they knew it would be home.

They moved to Albuquerque in 1952 and he began working for an insurance company that had a novel business plan of letting their agents become independent contractors and make their own decisions about the direction of their business. That company is State Farm and he became one of the largest agents in the state of New Mexico. Over the years he met and insured thousands of people in Albuquerque who did business with him during their lifetimes. We still meet people who as young drivers remember the advice Dad gave them when they got their driver’s license. He was well respected by those who did business with him, and the company he worked for.  He was always grateful to State Farm for the opportunity he had to build his own business and provide for his family. He spent 44 productive years working for State Farm.

During his lifetime he cultivated his many interests. One was aviation, and he owned several aircraft over the years. His favorite though was his Beechcraft Bonanza. He flew all over the United States, north to Pt. Barrow Alaska and south into Mexico. He closed his logbook with 2500 flight hours.

He loved his airplane; his next most enjoyable activity was boating. We had a succession of motorboats from the 1950’s, and a houseboat, which his children grew up living aboard. Later in life he took up sailing and had a 40-foot sailboat on the east coast. The sailboat was sold for a 36-foot trawler, which he and his wife Christa spent many years living on in Florida. Over their years together they made trips up and down the east coast and to the Bahamas.

 Dad and Christa have been married for 25 years. During this time they have traveled, and lived on their boat in Florida. She has been his constant companion and faithful wife, she cared for him as he aged and needed more help.  He died in their home just after midnight, November 22 with Christa caring for him as he wished, and she promised.

As his condition deteriorated and he had trouble remembering and finding the right words he would look at you smile, and say “I’m old and full of years now.” Not in sadness or bitterness but knowing he had a long life, full of friends, experiences, loving wife and children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.

Daniels Family Funeral Services

7601 Wyoming Blvd. NE

Albuquerque, NM 87109