Ellen Hinton Howard

Ellen Elizabeth Hinton, known as June, was the third and last child of Iven Hinton and Myrtle Mae Justice.  She was born April 8, 1931, in a little farmhouse in Roger Mills County, Oklahoma, north of Cheyenne and near Strong City.  Most of her growing years were in Sunray, Texas. She graduated from Sunray High School in 1949.  Afterwards, she attended Draughon's Business College in Amarillo, Texas.  She then went to work at Phillips Chemical Company's Cactus plant, north of Dumas, where her sister, Viola, her sister's husband, Bob, and her dad were working. There at work, she met John Wayne Howard, a Mechanical Engineer who had been hired by Phillips Bartlesville and sent to work at the Cactus location.  John was born at home on a farm near Morrow, Arkansas, and lived there until he joined the U.S. Navy in 1942. 

June and John were married at the First Baptist Church in Sunray in 1951.  They moved to Dumas, and June resigned from Phillips to start a family.  In1973, John was transferred to the Phillips Adams Terminal Plastics Plant located on the Houston Ship Channel.  They moved to Deer Park, Texas.  June's children were 14 and 18 years old, so she decided to work again, being a Teacher's Aide and later a Library Clerk for the Deer Park Public Schools.  They attended the First Presbyterian Church in Pasadena.  John retired from Phillips in 1983, and June retired from the school in 1985.  They traveled lots of miles in their van as tourists, and took cruises.  They also tended to their large and beautiful flower gardens.  However, most of their time was spent on genealogy research on both of their families.  They had two volumes of the Howard family genealogy published. 

June was extremely devoted to her church, her husband, all of her family, and family pets.  She loved to drive and take long road trips.  She collected many things, including spoons, thimbles, plates, bells and all sorts of antiques, many of which were bought as mementos of her travels.  She loved wildflowers.  She kept water and containers in her car so that she could pick them and make beautiful bouquets.  She also collected wildflower books in order to identify and learn the names of the wildflowers she picked.  June was dearly loved and will be missed.

June is preceded in death by her parents, her husband John Wayne, her sister Viola, and her brother Howard.  She is survived by her daughter Susan Bell and husband David of Englewood, Florida, and her son Michael Howard and his wife Norma of La Porte, Texas.  Grandchildren:  Kelly Bell, Tara Martin and husband Chase, and Natasha Bell.  Great grandchildren:  Michael William Spencer, Olivia Martin and Oliver Martin.  And many nephews, nieces, cousins, and dear friends.