Sunday, August 20, 2017

A little history of this Nephi house, but more of one of it's dwellers-Alyth Bigler Howard

I have passed the pictured home on several occasions, and when it appeared that nobody was living there, I walked over and checked the exterior portion of the stucco work. Whoever lives there now, I hope they know it is structurally sound, at least the exterior, as I helped Alma Jones stucco it after Alyth moved there from the Howard Ranch in the mid 1970's. She wanted the home as it was close to the church to walk to; a few steps away from the grocery store and centrally located for family and friends. Alyth was born in Nephi on Sept. 13, 1910. Her father was Abner Tranter and the mother being Ruby McPherson. She had one brother and four sisters. When she was ten, the family moved to Silver City, which was a mining boom town in west Juab County. When she was thirteen years old, she was called by the LDS  Bishop to be the Secretary of the Silver City Ward Sunday School. That started her many years of devotion to the Sunday School. After high school graduation and attending Henagar's Business College, she had an occasion to meet one Maurice Howard, a son of Mat Howard, and star Basketball and Tennis player for Nephi High. They were wed above a vein of silver on Sept. 1, 1933. They lived in Washington, Springville, Provo, Denver, and then returned to "Home Base" on the Howard Ranch, a couple miles north of Nephi. Back before the freeway and when there was plenty of water around, the Howard's had a lot of fruit trees, and one of the finest herds of cattle around. When Thermoid came to Nephi in World War Two times, Maurice went to work there and became a Supervisor. Their kids were Dixie, Pat; George, Bruce and Jean. Bruce had the DNA of his athlete father, as he became a star wrestler and track star. He slowed down on the running, so he became a pilot and increased his speed. Maurice passed away in 1973, and that was when Alyth came to town. I came to know and admire both her and Maurice and all of the Howards. First photo shows Alyth on top row on far right. Second photo is of her last home and third photo is from 1962 Clarion of Juab High School. Bruce Howard is top row in the middle.



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