Howard Whitley

Howard V. Whitley, age 96, passed away Wednesday, October 14, 2015, at the Truman Healthcare facility in Lamar. Howard was born June 13, 1919, near Stockton, MO. He grew up on the farm and stayed home and worked on the farm 2 years, after graduation from High School in 1938. He worked from 1941 to 1943 at G.&H. Tool Co., in Wichita, Kansas. There he built aircraft parts, and tools to build aircraft parts. In 1943 Howard went into the Army Air Corps. He spent 33 months in Air Craft Maintenance and Flight Engineering. When he was discharged from service, he farmed about a year and then opened a general garage and welding shop. Howard married Clyta June Pirtle May 27, 1949. He owned and operated the garage and welding shop until 1953 at which time he went to work for Lawn-Boy Mfg. Co. in Lamar, MO. There he worked in the Engineering Dept. and was in charge of the Model shop for 5 years. He built experimental model engines and lawn mowers from raw castings and tested all the new models, proving them for production. Howard said, "I went from the model shop into the Engineering Department as a design draftsman. Here our ideas were put on paper and were later turned into a workable production print. I worked for Lawn-Boy from April 1953 to September 30, 1963". When Lawn Boy left Lamar he went to work for Fairchild in Joplin, Mo., as a Design Engineer. He worked there until February 15, 1964, when he was offered a better job opportunity at Citation Mfg. Co. at Siloam Springs, Arkansas. Where he helped design and bring to production the ROBO Automatic Car Wash. In 1967 He went to work for Thorpes and worked here until he retired. Howard is survived by his wife Clyta of the home. One son Gary of Goodman, MO. and one daughter LuAnn Flynn of Quapaw, OK. 3 Grandchildren Tracy Whitley, Ike Helms, and Mark Whitley 6 Great-grandchildren Mason Whitley, Kaylin Whitley, Riley Henson, Toby McGiver, Sabrina Spillman and Maddie Helms.