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WEDNESDAY, November 4, 2015 VOL. 108, NO. 44 75¢
Remembering a legend By Cali Bagby Journal editor
Howard Schonberger was a member of the greatest generation, a World War II veteran who would become a newspaper man in every sense of the word. He liked to called himself a “newsie” even into his 90s. Howard was a man who could recall the golden moments of the past, but he was also a forward thinker – a man ahead of his time. He fought for equal rights, inspired to make changes after seeing discrimination to black students as a kid in Omaha. Even though he never stopped loving his typewriter, he advocated for technology in the pursuit of knowledge, was a huge supporter of community events and served on many service groups – all done with a smile on his face and a skip in his step. No one who knew Howard could recall a time when he was in poor spirits. Once after his grandchild commented, “Howard always in a good mood one,” Howard replied, “I’m not always in a good mood, and if I’m not, I’m quiet about it.” Howard passed away on Friday, Oct. 23 at the age of 94. He was born March 9, 1921. A career in news was in the making early in Howard’s life as he started a paper route as a boy. After high school he attended the journalism school at Northwestern University. Halfway through obtaining his degree he
Howard and Helen at their wedding in 2002.
was drafted into the Army and soon applied to become an officer. Howard spent four years in service during WWII dubbing himself an infantry shavetail meaning an officer who is not very experienced. After being promised to get out of the regular Army a day early, Howard joined the reserves, which would eventually lead him to two years in the Korean War. Pride in the service was important to him, but he was also up front about the aftermath of such violence. In 2013 he wrote a column about meeting a fellow veteran at a community event. “He has been a sturdy represen-
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tative of the millions of veterans who have seen the devastation of war and respects all those who sacrificed their lives and limbs in the horror of war,” he wrote. After WWII, he got married, had a son and worked as news editor of Veterans Report in Washington, D.C. He also worked as a proofreader for National Geographic. In 1949 he joined the advertising department at the Palo Alto Times in California. Howard came to visit the San Juans in 1975 and purchased a lot at Cape San Juan with his second wife for their retirement. Four years later, Howard quit the
Palo Alto Times and started a life on the island. “I have no regrets,” he wrote about the decision in a 2014 column. In true fashion he went straight to work at the Journal as See HOWARD, Page 5
Go with the flow | Howard’s columns by Howard Schonberger Columns written in 2008
We shall overcome
It seems like only yesterday when I was a kid in Omaha working at the Omaha theater as an usher for the first time and Jimmy Hall, a star halfback on our football team, came in with his mother. I greeted him warmly and the doorman came over when they started forward. “Kindly take the stairway to your right, please,” he said gently. They nodded and started upstairs. The doorman turned to me and said: “Don’t ever forget those words when Negroes come in.” Jimmy smiled as he saw my predicament. “That’s OK, Howie, we like it up in the balcony.
It’s good exercise.” Jobs were tough then, so I didn’t quit. But it was not “OK” and I never forgot it. Not when I saw it practiced in sports, in restaurants, on streetcars, in job discrimination, in fraternities and sororities, in the military during WWII, in lodges and clubs. It sucked! I fought discrimination in high school, unions, college, the Army, country clubs, service clubs and on every newspaper I worked for. I became a Republican – a Lincoln Republican – and that is what the Republican Party stands for, so far as I am concerned. Even though I love John McCain, I still can’t help but be proud of a nation that has demonstrated against all odds that the words “equal opportunity” have a greater meaning in the United
States of America than anywhere else. Democracy, American style, has given the world a real example of how we have changed. Let’s get behind President Obama and get through the challenges that we all face.
Homecoming Day ... some things never change
Every once in a while, I see someone shaking their heads in disapproval when they see the weird costumes on the kids at the Homecoming Parade and game. “We didn’t do that sort of thing when I went to school,” they grumble. They probably think they didn’t, but it’s only See COLUMNS, Page 3
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Howard at Central High School in Chicago in 1938.
2015 ELECTION Decision 2015
2015 ELECTION
Find out who’s in, who’s out, and what happens next; up to date election results are online, at www.sanjuanjournal. com