Ben was born in Los Angeles, California, to Joseph and Ruth Howse. He graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1940 and went on to the University of Oregon, Eugene. Soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, he joined the Army Air Corps. as a cadet. He attended flight school in Tucson, Arizona; Bakersfield, California; and Phoenix, where he received his pilot’s wings on March 10, 1943. Two days later, March 12, 1943, he married Patricia Louise Naylor in Los Angeles, California.
Ben served in World War II as a pilot in the Pacific Theater. After the war, he carried out many assignments in the United States Air Force including Athens, Greece; San Antonio, Texas; Valdosta, Georgia; and the Pentagon. During his military career Ben received promotions culminating in the rank of Full Colonel.
Ben retired from the USAF in October 1969, and he and Pat went to live on Padre Island, Texas. After the hurricane hit Corpus Christie in 1973 they moved back to California...first to an avocado grove in Fallbrook and later to Grass Valley. During those years Ben entered the real estate business, specializing in the development of avocado groves. They eventually moved to Pebble Creek, Arizona.
Ben was a lifelong outdoorsman. He especially relished his time spent fishing in the company of his cherished “fishing buddies.”
Ben is survived by his widow Pat; two daughters, Jennifer Howse (Brooklyn Heights, New York) and Deborah Robison (Maple Valley, Washington), two granddaughters, Jenna Raniowski (Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania) and Emily Mulvey (Springfield, Virginia) and two great grandchildren, Declan Raniowski and Anya Raniowski.
Ben’s ashes will be buried in St. Peter’s Memorial Garden in Litchfield Park.
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