Howard Powles

(From Crain Funeral Home)

Howard Powles, 93, of Dongola, formerly of Tamms, passed away Wednesday, August 19, 2020 at the Illinois Veteran’s Home in Anna.

Howard was born June 30, 1927 to Roy and Lorene Powles of Mill Creek. 

His passion in life was baseball. Howard signed with the St. Louis Cardinals and later the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was a lifelong Cardinal fan. He was a WWII veteran having served in Japan. Howard was a longtime hardware salesman and worked for both Belknap Hardware and Witte Hardware. He was also a volunteer firefighter with the Tamms Fire Department.

Howard is survived by sons, Stan (Alison) Powles of Golconda and Jeff Powles of Anna; daughter, Betty Powles of Anna; stepchildren, Kerry Hunter, Lisa (Wayne) Downs, Kyle (Laura) Hunter; grandchildren, Hilary Powles, Emily Powles, Fred (April) Terbrak, Martina Terbrak, Justin Hunter, Kendra Miller, Kayla Hunter, Dereck Hunter, Melissa Lowry, and Emily Downs; sisters, Louise “Tyne” (Bob) Thompson of Mill Creek, Fern Thompson of Dongola, Imogene Lynn of Marion; several great and great-great grandchildren, nieces, nephews and great nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his first wife, Mary Ella Albright and his second wife, Charlene Hunter Powles; daughters, Treva Powles and Sandra Terbrak; parents, Roy and Lorene Powles; sister, Delores “Toots” Wilson; brother, Frank Powles; brothers-in-law, Don Lynn and Jack Wilson; granddaughter, Crystal Terbrak and grandson, Nicholas Downs.

***

In his weekly KOM newsletter, baseball historian John Hall, a former Carthage resident, wrote of Mr. Powles' time with the Carthage Cardinals minor league team:

Howard Raymond Powles was a lefthander pitcher who showed up at Carthage at the start of the 1948 season and was released to May 10th. He had initially been signed by the St. Louis Cardinals who shuttled him around in 1947. He began that season on the Fresno, Calif. roster and he was then assigned to Lenoir, NC. At the end of the 1947 season he was assigned to the Winston Salem, NC club who retained his contract for 1948. That is how he wound up in Carthage to start the 1948 campaign.

Following his release by Carthage his time with the St. Louis Cardinal organization was concluded. He didn’t play in 1949 but he was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers who assigned him to Cairo, Ill. They optioned him to Centralia, Ill. on June 19, 1950 and four days later he was released outright. Anyone caring to follow his career can do so by viewing this link. digital.la84.org/digital/collection/p17103coll3/id/85010/...