Howard Arlin Schelske

OBITUARY – HOWARD SCHELSKE

April 7, 1931 – April 19, 2023

Howard Arlin Schelske was born near Cary, South Dakota in 1931. He was the oldest son of Gottfried and Erna Schelske. Gottfried and Erna’s families immigrated to the United States in the 1920’s. They first settled in South Dakota, then moved to Marion, Oregon in 1936 where Howard grew up with his siblings Arnold and Loretta.

Life was hard as his family strived to establish their farm. Howard worked hard on the farm from grade school all the way through high school. Even at the age of seven Howard’s job was to milk cows before going to school.

Howard attended grade school at a one-room schoolhouse in Marion, then high school at Cascade High School. There he was popular and active in sports playing baseball and football. He also played trumpet in band.

It was there he met his future wife, E’laine Lyons. They began dating, and after graduating from high school and briefly attending college, they married in 1953.

The first lived near North Santiam in a small house that is still there today. Howard worked driving lumber truck for Freres Lumber but soon began farming, helped by his father-in-law Albert Lyons.

Howard & E’laine soon bought a farm near Mehama. Then in 1964, they sold that farm and bought one in Jefferson.

Howard farmed for many years in Jefferson. He was known for designing and building custom farm equipment. He was also the first farmer to successfully grow onions outside Lake Labish. At the time, the belief was onions could only grow on soils of Lake Labish, but Howard proved it could be done elsewhere.

During the years on the farm, Howard enjoyed being with his family, especially fishing with his boys. Most of these trips were drift boat fishing for salmon and steel on the coastal rivers.

Church was an important part of family life for Dad as well. The family had been attending First Baptist Church in Albany for many years when a young pastor by the name of Dee Duke and his wife Patty came by for a visit and invited the family to Jefferson Baptist Church. The family did visit and decided to stay, making it their church home for the rest of his life.

Howard’s love of fishing lead to his hobby of building bamboo fly fishing rods. He loved the extreme precision required and the challenge of mastering the many different techniques and skills needed in the construction process.

A notable highlight of this was when he was asked to build a custom rod for Vice President Dick Cheney. He had the honor to travel to the White House to meet with the Vice President and present the rod personally.

People remember him for many things, but three stand out the most.

The first was he truly liked everyone. He always you with a big, warm smile and a friendly greeting.

The second was his hard work and perseverance. Even through setbacks he never gave up, and never became negative. He always met life with optimism and hope.

The last was Howard very attentive and thoughtful when talking to people. Even as his health was failing, someone would share something with him, maybe something minor, and the next time he saw them he would ask them about it. He often would tell them he was praying for them.

Dad went to meet his Lord on April 19th, 2023. He passed away peacefully at home surrounded by family.

He was 92 years old.

Howard and Elaine would have been married 70 years on May 2nd of this year.

He was preceded in death by his parents and brother Arnold.

Pallbearers were Michael Schelske, Mark Schelske Craig Schelske, Steven Schelske, Chris Schelske and Jason Taber.

Howard will be buried at the Aumsville Community Cemetery with other family members.