Howard Messer

Howard Lawrence Messer, the middle of three sons, was born to Ronald and ViEva Messer on April 30, 1926, in Spokane, Washington. After a lengthy illness, he was ushered through the gates of heaven on November 4, 2022. He was 96.

Howard began his education at Stevens Elementary School in Wenatchee. During the depression, he peddled newspapers on local streetcorners to contribute to the family finances. One day he saw a little red telephone in a store window. He really, really wanted it. So he went out to the alley behind the store and prayed about it. The Lord told him, “It’s your money!” At home, he hid the phone. “Oh that?” he said when his mother discovered it. “I’ve had that for a long time.” That story became part of our family lore.

Howard graduated early from Bremerton High School so that he could enlist in the US Navy in May of 1944. He didn’t want to miss WWII. Following his enlistment, he trained to be an electrician and finished second in his class. He spent the next two years on the USS Intrepid, an aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean. All of his adult life, he loved the Navy. He read extensively about the Navy. He watched documentaries about Navy action in WWII. He told Navy stories. When recently asked what exactly he loved about the Navy, he replied, “Everything. I think I could have done 20 years.”

Upon his discharge and return to Wenatchee, Howard found work as an IBEW electrician, following in the footsteps of his father and practicing the trade he had learned in the Navy. He spent his working life doing everything from working on small appliances to construction work on several dams in the Pacific Northwest.

In 1948, a young lady at church caught his eye. Three months after she graduated from Wenatchee High School in 1949, Howard married the love of his life, Shirley Roberts. They raised their four children in Wenatchee and East Wenatchee.

Howard was an active member of the First Assembly of God Church for many years and later of the Wenatchee Free Methodist Church. He gave his life to Jesus Christ at an early age, and never looked back.

In spite of increasing disability at the end of his life, Howard was not one to complain. Just a few days before he died, a Hospice nurse asked him, “How are you feeling today, Howard?” He responded in a whisper, “Fine.”

Howard is survived by Shirley, his devoted wife of 73 years; his children, Sandi (David) Noss, Keith (Jackie) Messer, and Norm Messer; 7 grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his son, Ronald Messer and one grandson.

Arrangements by Chapel of the Valley, East Wenatchee.