BIRTH:  26 Dec 1909
PLACE:  LaCrosse, Whitman, Washington
MARR:  27 May 1935
PLACE: Glasgow, Valley, Montana
SPOUSE:  Mildred Eleanor Getts
DEATH: 20 Feb 1966 Palo Alto, Santa Clara, California
PLACE: Palo Alto, Santa Clara, California.
BURIED: Alta Mesa Memorial Park, Palo Alto, California
Lot 372 - Subdiv. 4 - Section E on Feb, 21, 1966.

BIOGRAPHY:
John Howell Clarke, known as Howell, bought a radio store on Main St. (Last
Chance Gulch) in Helena, MT.  He owned this store until about 1938 when he
sold it to his sister Virginia and her husband Earl Charlton. While Howell
owned this store, he became the first person in the State of MT to put
radio's in police cars according to him (not proved).  JH overstocked his
radio's and was a poor business man.  His brother Earl Charlton and sister
Virginia bought him out when he moved to CA with his family (Mildred,
Beverly and Rowena).  They settled in Daly City just south of San Francisco.
During this time he was injured in a car accident and was unconscious for
about two week's with a head injury.
     Later the family moved to public housing at the Alameda Air Base on the
other side of San Francisco Bay.  He worked for the base repairing radio's
in ships.
     In 1943 the family bought a house in Palo Alto, Santa Clara Co., CA.
It cost about +ACQ-4000.00.  The house was at 135 Churchill Ave., 1/2 block from
Palo Alto High School and close to Stanford University.  In 1945 a son Carl
was born.  The family lived in the same house until about 1957. Mildred (nee
Getts) and Howell divorced and she moved to a rented house in Menlo Park,
with their son Carl.
       Howell was a dreamer and had some great ideas for business and tried
several.  One was TV's in the schools in California.  He started this in the
Palo Alto, California schools.  He set some up using Quasar TV's and had
cabinets built to hold them.  This was in the late 1950's.  He was also
involved in being one of two people trying to get TV antenna's distributed
in California.  This latest developed into a court case between him and his
partner in Seattle, Washington.  He did part time teaching of electronics in
night school in Palo Alto Senior High School and did custodial work there
also.
    In the late 1940's Howell built his own radio, with a +ACI-cat eye+ACI- for
tuning in.  The speakers were separated from the system and he always took
people into the dining room to +ACI-hear the sounds bounce off the wall+ACI-. This
was my first experience with dual speakers prior to +ACI-High Fi+ACI- and stereo's.
He also set up the sound system in the gym of the Palo Alto High School.
And also set up sound systems in skating rinks in San Carlos, Redwood City
and Palo Alto all in central California area.  His son Carl would help on
some of these when he was about 11 or 12 years old.

Note:  John Howell Clarke's mother, Blanch B. Howell  was a teacher in Cour
de Lane, Idaho when she met her husband, John Huston Clarke at a fair in the
State of Washington from the other side of a cow.