Obit: Howard, Leonard Henry (1869 - 1941)
Contact:  Crystal Wendt
Email: crystal@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Howard, Holmes, Selves

----Sources: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark County, Wis.) Thurs., 23 Oct. 1941

Howard, Leonard Henry (15 Nov. 1869 - 15 Oct. 1941)

Leonard Henry Howard was born November 15, 1869, the youngest son of Robert and Rachel Howard, in the town of Grant. He attended the Kurth School and the Neillsville High School.

At an early age he stuck out for himself, working for several winters in logging camps on the Cunningham and Black River. In 1898 he went into the implement business in Neillsville with his brother John. H was a pioneer automobile dealer, and later engaged in the tire business, retiring in the summer of 1941.

He served several terms as alderman of the city of Neillsville, and a term as city treasurer.

He was married March 18, 1900, to Belle Holmes of Greenwood.

Mr. Howard was a man who had a zest for living and who did his own thinking. He was keenly interested in national and world affairs, and equally in people- in the way they lived, what they did, and especially in what they thought.

He had a like interest in places, and he had the rare ability for being able to recreate the atmosphere of the communities to which his business took him when describing it to others.

He particularly enjoyed his experiences as a young man in lumber camps, having the true logger’s pride in his skill, and his reminiscences made that period of Clark County History live again.

He foresaw the part power machinery would play in farm work and had faith in the future of the automobile when to most people it was experimental.

After a lingering illness, Mr. Howard passed away October 15, 1941. He is survived by his wife, by a sister, Mrs. Ed. Selves, and a brother, George Howard.