By HDN Staff
PHOENIX, Ariz. Howard Thomas Russell, 82, died on April 21, 2000 in Phoenix, Ariz.
Russell was born on Dec. 18, 1917 on a farm five miles west of Leeds, N.D. to Timothy and Lucy Russell. He spent his childhood growing up on the farm and graduated from York High School in York, N.D.
Russell moved to Havre in 1935 to work for his uncle who owned the Grand Hotel. It was there he met and married Lorraine Buell. They were married on May 16, 1939.
The couple moved to Great Falls where Russell worked at the Rainbow Hotel and later the Tool Crib at Malmstrom AFB. He was drafted into the Army in 1945 and spent time in the Philippines and Japan. After the Army, he returned to Havre and managed the Northern Tire Company until 1958. He then managed the Hi-Line Lanes, 300 Club and Pomp Room Bar until 1964 when he moved to the Flathead Valley and went to work for Pacific Power & Light Co., retiring as office manager in Columbia Falls.
In 1996, Russell married Margaret (Peggy) Williams and moved to Chandler, Ariz., where he spent his final years painting, golfing and enjoying his retirement.
Russell's hobbies included fishing, bird hunting, painting, golfing and bowling. He was reportedly the first person to bowl a sanctioned 300 game in the state of Montana.
Russell was preceded in death by his first wife, Lorraine, in 1994; father, Timothy in 1943; mother, Lucille in 1982; sisters, Cleo and Kitty and brothers, Tim and twin Harold.
Survivors include his wife, Peggy, of Chandler, Ariz.; sons, Raymond of Watertown, N.D. and Richard of Columbia Falls; two grandsons and a granddaughter; brothers, John of Florida and Raymond of Rugby, N.D.; sisters, Pauline Graves of Minot, N.D. and Shirley Pietron of Grand Forks, N.D.
Cremation was in Phoenix and there will be no service as requested by Russell.
