PAID OBITUARY
Alma Ann (Felton) Howe
April 27, 1934-January 28, 2016
Alma Ann Felton was born on April 27, 1934, in Clear Lake, Iowa, to George Felton and Zada Geneva (Rice) Felton. She joined a brother, Harris, and later welcomed a sister, Zada. The family moved to the Los Angeles area in 1940 for employment opportunities (aircraft industries) and to help Alma’s asthma problems.
In 1947, the family moved to Portland, Ore. Alma attended Washington High School. She graduated from Washington in 1952 as co-valedictorian. She was awarded a scholarship to Willamette University.
During her freshman year she pledged Delta Gamma Sorority and also met Robert (Bob) Howe in a Spanish class. They began dating her sophomore year, but that was interrupted when she contracted polio early that term. She was hospitalized for several months in Portland and had to withdraw from college. Bob visited her while she was in the hospital and they resumed dating. They were married March 27, 1955, and lived a brief time in Salem, Ore., and Camas.
That same year they moved to Arlington, Wash., where Bob was hired as a teacher. Alma was involved in several school and community activities. They spent the summer of 1958 at San Jose State. Jeanine was born in Arlington in 1959 and the family was off that summer to Utah State University on another National Science Foundation Institute.
Alma and Bob decided to transition to college teaching so they moved to Corvallis for three years while Bob taught part-time and completed a doctorate in science education at Oregon State University. During those years, Alma played a crucial role helping to type and process data for Bob’s doctoral research.