Social media and Facetime is a buzz with well wishes as my Aunt Jeanette (Dodge) Howie celebrates her 95th birthday! A great time for all the family to get together this weekend, just days before Jeanette will turn 95 on this coming Wednesday the 10th.
 |
| Jeanette & Arthur Howie (c. 1982) |
That is one of the fun things about this date. It is the same calendar as today! Yes, the same calendar she was born on repeated this year!
Many notables were born on this same date. My favorite being Helen Hayes the actress. There was also my doppelganger Sir. Winston Churchill.
In 1964 the opening ceremony of the summer olympics in Tokyo, Japan was broadcast live over satellite for the first time in history.
 |
| Jeanette Howie and all her family 2012. |
October 10, 1923 Birthday Facts:
Here’s a quick list of all the fun birthday facts about October 10, 1923. Celebrities, famous birthdays, historical events, and past life were excluded.
Day index: 283rd day of 1923
Day of week: Wednesday
Day of week birthstone: Amethyst
Week index: 41st Wednesday of 1923
Next same calendar year: 2018
Day of week this year: Wednesday
Day of week next year: Thursday
Day of week in 2020: Saturday
Days until next birthday: 4 days
Age on next birthday: 95 years old
Days since birth: 34,695 days
Days spent sleeping: 11,565 days
Years spent sleeping: 31.66 years
Part of life spent sleeping: 33%
Full moons since birth: 1,175
Next full moon: October 24 at 16:46:00 GMT – Wednesday
First one billion seconds: Sometime on June 18, 1955
Age in dog years: 443 dog years old using a Pointer breed
Life path number and meaning: 8 – It represents experience, authority and endeavour. You are gifted with natural leadership and the capacity to accumulate great wealth.
Western zodiac sign: Libra ♎ (The Scales)
Western zodiac element: Air
Western zodiac sign quality: Cardinal
Western zodiac ruling planet: Venus – the planet of love and beauty
Western zodiac gemstone: Chrysolite
Eastern zodiac animal: Pig
Eastern zodiac element: Water
Modern birthstone: Opal
Mystical birthstone: Jasper (based on Tibetan origin)
Birth flower: Cosmos for constancy
Best compatible birthday: March 7, 1944 (+136)
Worst compatible birthday: April 13, 1934 (-177)
Popular girl’s name: Mary – 71,635 babies
Popular boy’s name: John – 57,472 babie
 |
| Jeanette Howie and her boys 2012. |
At the young age of just 7 years, her family: Father, Glenn Waterman Dodge, Mother, Stella Elizabeth (Gardner), and her two sisters: Elizabeth Marie Dodge, and Dorothy R Dodge. Sorry I don't know her middle name. Were all living in Chicago, Illinois. On Fulton Street!
Her father Glenn was a teacher, as many of the family followed that profession.
This was also the time of the great depression. Hopefully the family didn't need to flock to Al Capone's soup kitchen in downtown Chicago.
By the time of age 12 years, Jeanette, her parents, and sister Betty had moved to Canyonville in Douglas County Oregon. By the age of 53, her father Glenn had retired from teaching, and bought a farm in Oregon. Then on April 22, 1947, her father Glenn, age 61, a carpenter was returning to Oakland California after being shipped off to Manila, Philippines as a US Naval Seaman. It is unclear to me if he was drafted at age 61, or if he volunteered. Good thing he got back, as Jeanette married my uncle Arthur Howie in Sierra Madre, Los Angeles, California that same year. On December 21, 1947. Jeanette and Arthur moved to Willits, Mendocino, California. Here they had their first child, Ronald Jon Howie. The family: Arthur England, a school principle, Jeanette, and baby Ronald Howie were then shipped off to Truk, Micronesia. They embarked and returned from San Francisco California, to Agana, Guam in 1950.
In December of that same year the family moved to Myrtle Creek, Oregon. Where their second son, Michael was born. The entire family of four left and returned again to Truk, Micronesia in 1951. Both Ronald & Michael were both just babies at the time.
Her father Glenn Waterman Dodge died, June 25th, 1952 in Canyonville, Douglas, Oregon at the age of 65. Her mother Stella Elizabeth (Gardner) Dodge died, January 25th, 1961 in Clatsop, Oregon. Glenn & Stella were then buried with her parents. Their final resting place together with the Gardner family in Leon Cemetery, Leon, Decatur, Iowa.
Jeanette and her family then moved to San Diego, California where Douglas, Lawerence and Kenneth were born. The family lived there for approximately twenty years before moving to Selah, Washington in the 1980's.
Jeanette has, five sons, and I believe eleven grandchildren. Not to mention many great-grandchildren which I probably am not aware of at this time.
Her husband of sixty-four years, and my uncle, Arthur England Howie left us all on September 18th, 2011.
Her eldest sister, the world traveler, Dorothy R. (Dodge) Wickert died at the age of 78. In Meridian, Ingham, Michigan, on Monday, March 16, 1992. Her sister "Betty" Elizabeth Marie Albright died in her 93rd year, on March 19th, 2012, in Moro Bay, San Luis Obispo, California. Leaving three sons.
HAPPY 95TH BIRTHDAY JEANETTE!
I will finish here unfortunately with some sad news!
 |
| Martha Louise (Lecka) Johnson |
My aunt Dorothy May (Howie) was as you all know, married to James Louis Lecka. His last surviving sister being my sister-in-law of my aunt, Martha Louise Lecka; has just recently past away.
Martha was the middle child. The eldest being Maria, who died before my uncle in 1991.
Like Jeanette, Martha was also born in 1923. She was born September 13, 1923, in Johnson City, Washington, Tennessee. Her father Louis was 34 and her mother Willie was 30 at the time of her birth. Martha remained her entire life in the city of her birth.
 |
| Martha Louise Lecka |
The rain began in 1926, and by Christmas day in 1926 the Cumberland River in Nashville, Tennessee had crested at 56 feet! A HORRIBLE event for the Lecka family, and for the Nation!
The family was originally from Albania. Their father Louis immigrated during Victorian times, and began a very thriving restaurant in Johnson City. By 1940, Louis & Willie were living separately. Willie and her three children were living with her sister Pauline Rowena (Pritchard) Clabo and her family. Pauline was a stenographer for a lumber company, and her husband Albert Clabo was in the U.S. Navy at the time.
In 1942, Martha age 20 was at college. She enrolled in Milligan College, in Elizabethton, Tennessee. Where she was voted most studious! She got her B.S. in Business Administration and went on to work for the United States Government.
This is about all I knew about Martha.
I didn't know Martha Lecka. My eldest sister Kathy might have met her when she went back to stay with the Lecka family.
I will end here with a obituary.
 |
| Martha Louise Lecka |
Her obituary is as follows:
MARTHA (LECKA) JOHNSON
JOHNSON CITY - Martha L. Johnson, 95, passed away on September 19, 2018. A native of Washington County, TN, she was born on September 13, 1923 to Louis and Willie Lecka.
She was a graduate of Science Hill High School and Milligan College. She worked for the U.S. Government for many years, retiring in 1984 from the Social Security Office in Morristown.
Martha was an avid bowler and began her bowling career at the Mountain Home bowling alley. In the early 1960s, her official, sanctioned bowling career began with her being the first Secretary of the Johnson City Women’s International Bowling Association and later, becoming the Tennessee State Secretary of the Bowling Association for many years which to Martha was an honor. Martha was a member of the 600 Club and celebrated in 2015, 50 Years of bowling the National Tournaments. Martha had many lifetime friends that she loved and who loved her too. Martha also was a voracious reader and loved to travel. Say the word “GO” and she was ready!
 |
| Martha Louise Lecka |
Those left to cherish her memory are two nephews, James L. Lecka and J. Kerby (Kristina) Lecka and great-nephews, Jack (Dakota), Trevor, and Liam Lecka, all of Newbury Park, California, and special friends and caregivers, Tom and Vicki Webster of Johnson City.
Funeral services will be conducted at 11:00 A.M. on Saturday in the East Chapel of Appalachian Funeral Home. The family will receive friends for 10:00 A.M. until the service hour.
Graveside services will follow the service at Oak Hill cemetery in Johnson City.
 |
| MAY Queen! Martha Louise Lecka |
 |
| 1947 Milligan College Martha Louise Lecka B.S. Business Administration |
 |
| Martha Louise Lecka |