SPOKANE The Rev. John Prentice Howe II, a retired teacher and department chairman at the University of Idaho, died of causes related to age Thursday at Spokane. He was 79.
The son of William F. and Jenabel Dennett Howe, he was born Jan. 31, 1914, at Dedham, Mass.
In 1935 he graduated cum laude from Amherst College at Massachusetts, and during World War II he worked for Proctor and Gamble at Ohio and Tennessee.
He and Phyllis McDonald were married in 1941 in Massachusetts.
The couple moved to Bethel, Maine, where he worked as a product development engineer for the Chadbourne Lumber Company.
He received a master's degree in wood science and technology at Yale University in 1955.
In the fall of 1956 he began teaching at the UI in Moscow, and also served as chairman of the school's forest products department.
He received his doctorate in wood science and technology from the University of Michigan in 1966.
He retired from the UI in 1979.
In 1983 he was ordained at the Moscow Presbyterian Church, and shortly thereafter moved to Rockport, Mass. He served as head of young people's activities at Rockport Congregational Church and minister to the elderly and shut-ins at Newton (Mass.) Presbyterian Church.
He also studied at Andover-Newton Theological School while serving as the school's forester.
He moved to Spokane in 1990. He was active in the Inland Empire Presbytery and Whitworth Community Presbyterian Church, both at Spokane.
Survivors include two sons, John P. Howe III of San Antonio, Texas, and Jeffrey G. Howe of Boise; two daughters, Deborah H. Christianson of Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, and Ellen H. Schwankert of Spokane; a brother, Dennett F. Howe of Cincinnati, Ohio; a sister, Sally Bixby of Hyannis, Mass.; and six grandchildren.
His wife died previously.
Memorial services were held Monday at Spokane, and another service is planned for later this year at Newton, Mass.
The family suggests memorials be given to Camp Spalding, Presbytery of the Inland Empire, Spokane, Wash. 99212; or the Wildlife and Range Sciences John Howe Forest Products Scholarship Endowment, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho 83843.
