Obituary
Howard Louis Behrens
Born 16th October 1927 in Harvard, Illinois to Louis Alexander Behrens and Mildred Florence Sweatman. Howard passed away 8th of February 2023 at 95 years of age. His childhood home was at 203 Hutchinson St. in Harvard. Howard went to Central School and Harvard High School and was active in sports, especially basketball and track, and was in band, playing an E flat clarinet. His first job was newspaper delivery on his bicycle, where his favorite day was Saturday when he collected payments and also was the recipient of fresh baked goods, especially from Mrs. Brady and Mrs. McGuire. He also set pins at the bowling alley. Howard graduated high school in 1945. His next stop was enlisting in the Navy at age 17. He went to basic training at the Great Lakes Naval base. World War II ended while he was still in the states and the military honorably discharged those new service members. Howard then found work at the A&P grocery store and quit there to work at Dean Foods Company in Chemung Illinois where he made 10 cents more an hour. He did many different jobs at the factory starting on a milk wagon, making cottage cheese, bottling milk, then in the office where he did several different jobs over the years including office manager and computer entry and back up, He worked there an amazing 42 years, and was a member of the Teamsters Local 754. Howard met the love of his life, Dorothy May Tucker, at a dance in the VFW Hall in Capron, Illinois. Cell phones had not been invented yet and telephones were not in every house so Howard knew when and which way she walked to and from work and would meet up with her. They were married Sept 16th, 1950, in the First Presbyterian church of Harvard. First, they lived in an apartment near Washington St, then bought a house on Dewey St in Harvard. Their first child, a daughter, Paula Louise, was born 1951 in Harvard. Their second child, Bradley Howard was born in 1960. They had a house built between Harvard and Woodstock and moved “out in the country” in 1962 and experienced their first great blizzard that next winter with no garage! Howard enjoyed all sports, participating in a bowling league and golfing. He also enjoyed coin collecting. Howard was a 54-year member of the First Presbyterian Church of Harvard and served as an Usher, Deacon, Elder and Trustee of the Church Foundation. His church membership was transferred to the First Presbyterian Church of Ocala in 1995. He was also a member of the IOOF, International Order of Odd Fellows, which was a family tradition with his parents, grandparents, aunt and uncle. He also was a life member of the American Legion. Howard is also a loyal and long-suffering Cubs fan. He did get to attend a cross town classic that the Cubs won and watched them win the World Series on live TV. Howard was also a self-employed Tax preparer for 25 years. For many of those years he did business out of the first floor of his grandparents home at the corner of Front and Hutchinson Streets in Harvard. Howard retired from Deans in 1986 and he and Dorothy moved to Oak Run in Ocala, Florida in 1990. He’d had enough of that winter snow and cold! He enjoyed the retired life with golfing, bingo, many trips, including Germany, England, Hawaii and the Mediterranean and many other experiences. Howard was preceded in death by his parents and his daughter. To cherish his memory are his wife, Dorothy, son Brad (Daryl Regier), granddaughters Renna (Robert) Sanchez and Darla Frakes (AJ Jobin), and three great granddaughters: Aurora, Sabine and Vesper Sanchez, and many cousins! A celebration of life will be held in the near future.
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