Week 9–Family Secret

On the whole, Howard Foster did not display secretive qualities. He willing talked about any topic that came up. He answered questions about himself in detail. If he didn’t know the details he filled in the details. The only thing he knew about his birth grandfather father was the name, John Lawrence Shelton.

Howard Melvin Foster, a glass half full person, was my father-in-law. Also, he was Grandmother Perritt’s son-in-law. I spent some time with him and my mother-in-law, Rose. This was when my husband was in the army, stationed in Shemya, Alaska. My obstetric doctor practiced medicine in Portland, Oregon where my in-laws lived.

Being the positive person Howard was, he was not about to share the unhappy parts of his life. If something bad had happened he quickly forgot about it.

Being the nosy person I am, I asked questions about his life. If the event was good, I got detailed answers. If not, I got half answers.

Howard’s Brother Dick

Charles Richard Foster, his half-brother, was born three years after Howard. They were close while growing up. Charles or “Dick” as the family called him, grew up to be an alcoholic. Howard grew up to be a family man with a house in the suburbs, a business of his own, a loving wife, two sons and a dog named Eagle.

Dick, on and off the wagon, showed up at regular intervals, drunk and asking for money. Howard helped him until he broke with Dick when his boys were under five.

I asked what happened to Dick. Howard said he thought he died sometime in the 1950s and his family lived in Silverton, Oregon. Years later, I was searching for a Charles Richard Foster and found him in a Silverton Phone Directive for 1997.

Early Life

A wild story about Howard’s early life came from his half-sister, Jean Wardian. How Howard came to have a half-sister, and two half-brothers is a different story I will tell now.

Edna Naomi Miller fell in love with Carl Shelton in Portland, Oregon. They lived in the same Portland Ward. They were both in their early twenties. When Howard was born on July 31, 1914, in Portland, Oregon, Edna was 25 and Carl was 24.

Back to the wild story, the first part is true. Auntie Jean, Howard’s half-sister, said Howard’s small family moved to a small logging community in the northeastern part of Oregon. They moved to Enterprise and Enterprise is where Carl died and is buried. I found his grave in Enterprise Cemetery. He had died July 24, 1915, just a few days before Howard ‘s first birthday.

The wild part of this story involves the reason they moved.  Jean said, “Carl’s parents were well off, well known in the Portland music scene and were trying to get custody of Howard.”

New Father

Edna married again on June 10,1916 about a year after Carl died.  Howard grew up knowing no other father beside Charles Wallace Foster.

The Fosters used Shelton as Howard surname in the 1920 U.S. census. Here it is for OK Gulch, Wallowa County, Oregon.

 Using Foster as His Surname

After Howard started school in Lewiston, Idaho, he used Foster as his last name. Here is the 1930 U.S. census from Mount Pleasant, Skamania, Washington.

A Problem Develops Later in Life

In 1963 Howard needed a name change. He went through the Multnomah County circuit court system to change his name.  His birth certificate named him Howard M. Shelton. In life people and institutions call him Howard Melvin Foster.

He graduated from Fort Vancouver High School as Howard Foster.

He studied for four years at Reed College as Howard Foster.

He married Rose Coursen on June 3,1940 as Howard Melvin Foster.

His two boys carried the surname of Foster.

His printing business was called Balwin-Foster Printing Co.

As a scout master from 1961-1965 he was known as Howard Foster.

He served his country in WWII and separated from the army as Private First-class Howard M. Foster.

I don’t know the immediate reason he needed to do this in 1963. I do know his church was planning a group trip to Israel and Rome. Howard would need a passport for this trip and a birth certificate with the name he had used for 45 years.

Certificate of Change of Name

On April 2, 1963, Howard Melvin Shelton, on his own behalf, petitioned the Circuit Court that his name be changed from Howard Melvin Shelton to Howard Melvin Foster. On April 29, 1963, his name was changed, and an official Certificate of Change of Name was issued to Howard.

Going Ahead to 1972

Moving ahead, I spent more time with my in-laws in Portland waiting for the baby. During my last month of pregnancy, my obstetrician wanted me to cut out my trips between Seattle where my parents lived and Lebanon where my grandmother lived. Being consigned to Portland, I had more chances to ask Howard about his life. He didn’t want to talk about his experiences in WWII.

Years later, going through Howard’s papers, I found his separation papers containing a summary of some of what he did. I was impressed. I don’t know if he didn’t talk about this last assignment because he didn’t want to, or he wasn’t supposed to. Here is the quote from his separation papers.

Title-Description-Related Civilian Occupation

Master, Ship: Served with 329 Harbor Craft in European Theater of Operations. Served aboard General McNarney’s private yatch. Was second in command of the boat. Drew all rations and supplies to be used. Acted as purchasing agent and bought on the civilian market. Supplies to be used that couldn’t be secured through the army.

At the time Howard was the Ship Master of this yatch, General Joseph T. McNarney was commanding general of the United States Army Forces, Mediterranean Theater. Howard separated from the army on March 17, 1946.

Granddaughter

Then my daughter was born on a hot day in August of 1972 in Portland, Oregon. The grandparents had time to bond strongly with this new human.

In February of 1973, my husband came home from Shemya, Alaska. Soon after we headed to Fort Devens, Massachusetts where my husband finished his enlistment.

The grandparents were grieved with our going. This suggests the emotions in the family legend of Howard’s parents taking Howard away from his grandparents about 58 years ago.

We did come back to Oregon, living and working about 50 miles south of Portland. Howard and Rose attended their granddaughter’s wedding in 1998.

Howard died on December 27, 2000, in a care home in Portland, Oregon. We buried him in Skyline Memorial Gardens in Portland, Oregon. He has a flat bronze veterans headstone marker.