Raymond Shaw Howarth

Raymond Shaw Howarth
1924 ~ 2013
"It's a Wonderful Life". Raymond Shaw Howarth died April 9, 2013 at the age of 89. Ray was born in Magna, Utah on February 27, 1924 as the second of three children born to Nephi and Carrie AdelIa Shaw Howarth.
As a youth, he attended the Magna LDS Ward, Webster Elementary School, and Cyprus Junior and Senior High School. Upon graduation from high school, he was eventually inducted into the Army, given basic infantry training in Fort Benning, Georgia, and was assigned to the 100th Infantry Division, 399th Infantry Regiment in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Sgt. Howarth fought with the 100th Infantry through the Vosges forest of Northern France to within 30 kilometers of the German border. On January 1, 1945, during a Nordwind German counter-offensive, Ray was severely wounded and was captured. He was incarcerated in Stalag XIIA, Heppenheim, Germany.
Ray returned home, married his sweetheart, Shirley Butters, and enrolled in the University of Utah. He and Shirley lived in Stadium village, where they were blessed with three children. Ray graduated from the University in 1951, and he and Shirley took their small family to Southern California, where he had an engineering position with Bethlehem Steel.
Three more children were born in Downey, California. In 1965, Ray and Shirley had their marriage solemnized in the Los Angeles Temple and their children were sealed to them. They raised their children in the small city of Whittier, California. After 41 years of marriage, Shirley was stricken with a brain tumor, which took her life on November 21, 1986. Ray spent the next three years writing a book about Shirley's life, which he published. Copies of the book were sent to all of Shirley's family, and many friends.
In 1990, he moved to Henderson, Nevada to be closer to his younger grandchildren. In 1992, he became reacquainted with Donna Simmons Howarth, a former girlfriend from high school. Ray had sent Donna a copy of Shirley's book. Ray and Donna were married in the Las Vegas Temple on September 18, 1992, and she brought three more sons and her beautiful extensive family into his life. Ray and Donna served an LDS mission in Dusseldorf, Germany. Upon their return to the United States, they decided to live in Salt Lake City. In 1997, Ray sought help from the Veterans Administration to control his anger which stemmed from 52 years of untreated Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from his WWII experiences. In this venture, he was successful, and, from that success, he devoted the next 9 years helping many, many other veterans seek and receive the PTSD help they needed from the VA.
In July 2006, Donna was diagnosed as having Dementia and began her long battle with Alzheimer's and Ray became her caregiver. After 20 wonderful years of marriage, Donna died on September 9, 2012.
Ray was preceded in death by his parents, his brother Clarence, his sister Joey Sadler, his wife Shirley, his son Kelly, Donnas' eldest son, Dana, and his second wife Donna. He is survived by his five children: Shirleen Kidd (Allen), Kent Howarth (Barbara), Connie Harrison (Ken), Paul Howarth (Kimberly), Jeri Gamble, Kelly's wife Christine, and by two of Donna's children: Randy Howarth (Diane) and David Howarth (Deborah), and by 26 grandchildren and 31 great grandchildren.
Yes, it was a "Wonderful Life" filled with magical moments, love and memories. Thank you, family for making it all so glorious.
Funeral services will be held at 11:00am on Saturday April, 13 2013 at the Olympus 4th Ward, 2675 East 4430 South where friends may visit with the family from 9:30am to 10:45am prior to services. Interment: Holladay Memorial Park. Messages to the family may be posted at www.holbrookmortuary.com.