It is with a sad and heavy heart that I report the passing of my hero, and good friend, JACK HOWARD.
On Saturday, October 29, 2005, JACK HOWARD passed away at the age of 83, in Nevada City, CA. He is survived by his wife Dorothy. They had no children.
Many of you on TRADGANG had the honor of trading posts with Jack, and remember what a great guy he was. He was considered by many of us to be one of the best Bowyers ever. His CLASSIC and JET model bows were also considered by many to be the best bows ever made.
According to his wife, Jack began making bows in 1947, the same year they were married. He continued making bows until this year, still working on some shortly before his death. Jack had developed some unique methods in his bow production; methods not used by any other bowyer. The end result was a product that was not matched by many other bows. That is a career of 58 years. All bows were made 100% by him, from start to finish. No one else ever had any hand in producing his bows. That has to be the longest career of a single bowyer that I know of.
Jack was also one of the pioneers of modern bow hunting. He was one of the original BIVY HUNTERS in that he would back-pack into his favorite hunting countries for up to a week at a time, alone. His exploits and contributions to traditional archery will be remembered by many for years to come.
By now, he is in that Happy Hunting Ground, sitting around a campfire swapping lies with the likes of Fred Bear, Howard Hill, Ben Pearson, and others.
Jack's website can be seen at
www.jacksgamemaster.com He will be sadly missed.
So it is with fond memories that I say farewell to my hero, my friend, JACK HOWARD.
Topic: PASSING OF JACK HOWARD (Read 14785 times)
