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The majority of you here today have known Howard during his professional life.  I felt you might like some insight to his early years and some factors that might have influenced him to enter the ministry.

We were very fortunate to have strict but loving parents.  Both were very active in the First Methodist Church in Springfield, Illinois.  All four of us siblings were born in Springfield and lived there through our high school days.  The naming of the four children, Miriam, the oldest, Howard John, little Ruth and Paul suggested a strong biblical influence.  Little Ruth died from whooping cough at age year and a half, before I was born.  Her death had a sad impact on our family for many years.  Howard and Miriam both expressed some guilt since they felt they may have brought the disease into the home.

Howard demonstrated very early that he had a good approach on organizing and motivating others.  He convinced his friend, Tommy, and me that we should help him dig a cave in the vacant lot next to our house.  That was a neat trick in the flat lands of central Illinois.  A four foot deep hole with planks over the top, covered with dirt and a small entrance tunnel was Howard's idea of a cave.

Howard was named for our father, Howard, so was called "Junior" by relatives and some friends.  That soon got shortened to "Jun", which he did not like and refused to respond to any name but "Howard."  Later, he had girls who liked to call him "Howie" but that too soon passed and he was "Howard" the rest of his life.

During the summer, while we were both still in school in Springfield, we would spend 2 or 3 weeks at our Grandpa Whittenburg's small farm in Southern Illinois.  It was 5 miles by dirt roads from Kinmundy, Illinois.  Evenings were spent on the farm house front porch listening to nature sounds.  Howard loved to answer the call of the whip-poor- will with his own natural whistle.  Before bed time Grandpa would read, by kerosene lantern, from the big family Bible and close the evening worship by all of us kneeling and praying for what seemed like an hour to two young boys.

One summer Grandpa decided Howard was old enough to drive the two-horse team and ride the two wheel corn cultivator.  With success in this endeavor, Howard decided he and I should ride one of the plow horses bare-back down the dusty road to the closest neighbor's house which was about 7 miles away.  All went well until Howard decided to turn the horse to go home.  The slow plodding plow horse decided he wanted to get back to his feed trough and turned into a race horse.  As a result, Howard and I were flipped off onto the 2 inch dust covered road and had to walk back home.

During his high school days Howard was a very smart student and graduated with membership in the National Honor Society.  Summers, he attended Church camps, one being a work camp in South Dakota.  He was always interested in nature and liked scientific activities, such as an amateur radio one of his friends had.

He honed his speaking and persuading skills by selling Fuller Brush products and electric fans door to door during the summers while he was in college.  While attending DePauw University he served a small brick chapel just outside Greencastle, Indiana.  He graduated a member of Phi Beta Kappa and went on to Garrett Theological Seminary which is on the Northwestern University campus.  Charlotte was a student at Northwestern University, where they met and fell in love.

They decided the wedding would be in Charlotte's home town, Santa Barbara, California.  I was the only member of Howard's immediate family from Illinois who could make the trip and be in the wedding.  Howard and I tried to hitch-hike from Springfield, Illinois to Santa Barbara, California.  After two days on the road we had managed to get only as far as Springfield, Missouri.  We finally decided, if we were going to get there in time for the wedding, we would have to take the bus.

After they were married, Howard was on the staff as the Youth Minister at the Oak Park, Illinois Methodist Church.  Part of his compensation was a small apartment in the Church belfry - which they dubbed the "Clinebellfry."  During a visit to their apartment Charlotte and I were walking to the store when a high school girl from the Church looked across the street and called, "Hi Howie."  That was the first time it was determined we looked alike, although he was five years older.  Years later, when I visited them in Claremont, Howard insisted we climb Mt, Baldy.  On the way we passed another climber who, noticing both of us were in plaid shirts and blue jeans, asked if we were twins.

Both families enjoyed camping and one summer we were camping together in Rocky Mt. National Park.  Being the climber that he was, Howard had us climbing Long Peak - until we encountered a snow storm in July that forced us back to the campground.

Years later, after they were out of college, Howard had two of my sons and myself come out for a week of sailing around the Santa Barbara Channel Islands which was a great experience for all of us.  Howard so enjoyed the flora and fauna on these islands.

Thirty or more years earlier Howard, Charlotte, and their young sons John and Don came to Atlanta for the marriage of Harriette and me, where he performed the ceremony.   After nearly thirty more years he came to Mahomet, Illinois to assist in the marriage ceremony of our daughter, Jan.  Seven years later he came to Urbana, Illinois to assist in the marriage ceremony of our oldest son, Jeff.  And a year later he came to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, to have a part in our second son, John's marriage.  Then the following year he traveled to Houston, Texas to take part in the marriage ceremony of our youngest son, Jim.

Although Howard left Illinois for study and to serve Churches in New York and then in California where he taught at the Southern California School of Theology and continued writing books, we always felt very close.  He very much enjoyed the family and always visited our sons and their families when he was in their vicinity for seminars he was leading.

Just six days after I received word that Howard had died, I received word that our sister, Miriam, who lived in a nursing home in Springfield, Illinois, had also died.  Both had heavy crosses to bear during their later days and, although it is hard to lose both of them so close together, I know they are relieved of their pain and suffering.

The Illinois Clinebell clan would like to thank the faculty of the Claremont School of Theology and the staff of the Clinebell Institute for the wonderful Memorial Service for Howard, whose legacy will live on for many years.

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