Howard Bearl Welborn's Obituary
Howard Welborn, the gentlest of gentlemen, passed away September 3, 2024. He was 94. His life, book-ended being born in Bonne Terre, Missouri and passing in Tacoma Washington was filled with adventure,humor, travel, and a family who loved him dearly as he did them.
He taught in a one-room schoolhouse for 9 grades while in Bonne Terre, asserting control after beingchallenged and winning a slingshot competition with the class president. After one year of teaching, hejoined the Air Force in 1951 in which he served for 20 years. His travel bug and life of adventures startedthere. He served early and often in Vietnam, starting in 1953. He was part of an advanced / test squadronsetting speed travel records after which he served as an advisor to the Indian Air Force during the Sino-Indian conflict of 1962 where upon he returned to southeast Asia operations for the rest of his service. While there,he gained a passion for Asian antiques which he used to collect on weekends and periods of rest. Upon retiring, he opened up an Asian antiques store and continued to feed – and expand – his travel bug. He and the love of his life, Florence, bought a small church in the outskirts of Rome using it as their home base formore than 40 trips to and throughout Italy. His other passions included playing tennis (always playing inblack socks), collecting phonographs, playing the clarinet to big band records, searching for “the perfect”piano and writing both heartfelt and funny poems for just about any occasion.
At the core of Howard was his gentle nature and sense of humor. He had nothing but kind words to anyone and everyone, helping people from all walks of life throughout his life in many ways. He was a person from another generation, another time of gentility. He has passed down traditions – of hard work, of always beingthere for friends and family, of poems, of tennis, of travel, of treasure hunts, of remarkably corny humor – to his kids and even more importantly, to his grandkids.
He is survived by the love of his life, Florence, his two kids, Caroline and Ralph, and his grandkids, Nicole, JP,Jeremy, and Jacob.
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