Jayne, I noticed in Uncle Stan's obituary that he was a long-time resident of Yucaipa, California, and member of the Presbyterian church there when he died. I have a friend who was similarly situated. Furthermore, my friend was a high school classmate of mine at China Lake in the early 1950s. I wrote, asking if she knew him. Her response:

"Yes, Bob, I knew and much loved F. Stanley Howell! I knew of his China Lake connection. How did you learn of him?? He was one of those amazing people who knew something about everything, and everything about several things! He understood the complementary nature of the fields of science and religion and lived it rather than banging people on the head with it. I taught an adult Sunday School class for years at the Yucaipa Presbyterian Church and he was a faithful member and was always willing to say "yes" when I needed a break for vacation or preparing new material. Sadly and almost unbelievably to me, Alzheimers disease afflicted him, but not until he had made a big impact in a lot of ways. Someday it would be fun to talk about him with you. Please do let me know how you've heard about Stan. As ever, Marion"

I can put you in contact with Marion if you want.

Also, I have queried the "archives" at China Lake to see if they can turn up anything about him and his work there.

-----

The Retired Affairs Office at China Lake turned up nothing about F Stanley Howell. They checked old phone books going back to 1950.

One last email from Marion:

"Yes, Bob, they hiked all the way from Badwater to the top of Whitney! That is what made it so remarkable! In fact there was something about missing one of their target destinations along the way where they were to have access to water. When they didn't reach it at the time Stan had reckoned they should, they went back to the prior "water hole" and used up a whole extra day. Not sure how they notified the rangers so there wasn't a search party out looking for them. Bill Howell was maybe 4 years older than our son Gordon who tuned 52 today. If Bill was 16 at the time of the hike, the time frame should have been around 1960 (ish.) I shared all this info with another from the Yucaipa Pres. Church tonight at dinner. They were amazed at the connection too. Hooray for the good parts of the internet! Marion"

Last edited by Bob R; 09/26/10 09:05 AM. Reason: Additional feedback