Submitted by RWB Wesley F Revels, St. Joseph Lodge No.78

Heroes And Patriots Remembered

Br James M Hower Sr., 9/21/1921 - 11/1/2011

Br James M. Hower, Sr., 90, was born September 21, 1921 in Lincoln, Kansas to George and Luella Hower. He graduated Fort Hays State College and was a member of Phi Mu Alpha fraternity.  He married Velma Marie Portschy in 1944.  Following the war he completed his degree and was the Band Director at Russell, Kansas High School.  Br Hower was an Equitable Life Insurance agent and district manager for the company retiring after 50 years service.

Br Hower, was a U.S. combat Air Corps pilot serving as a B-17 Flying Fortress pilot in the 8th Air Force, 384th Bomb Group. He flew 30 missions and attained the rank of First Lieutenant. He received the Army Air Medal and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for flying the lead ship during an 8th Air Force combat mission over NAZI Germany.  He was a member of the 8th Air Force Historical Society serving as president of the Missouri chapter and national president.

The above video is the WW2 8th Air Force Documentary, "All The Fine Young Men", From the Human History Archive. This video published Jan. 17th 2013 on U-Tube.  This video includes the disastrous "Black Thursday" bombing raid on Schweinfurt, Germany in October 1943.

Missouri Grand Lodge records show Br Hower was initiated into the Mysteries of Freemasonry on February 5th 1948 at the Hayes KS Masonic Lodge, Passed to the Degree of Fellowcraft on March 5th and Raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason on May 27th of the same year.  After relocating to St. Joseph, Missouri  through a promotion as District Manager of the Equitable Insurance Company, he transferred his membership to St. Joseph Lodge No.78, September 21st, 1971. Br Hower was awarded recognition for 50 continuous years as a Freemason June 25th 1999.

In St. Joseph, he was active in the Pony Express Council, Boy Scouts of America for many years, serving as Robidoux District Chairman on multiple occasions, and the Council Executive Board. He was awarded the Silver Beaver Award for service on the Council level. He was a Chieftain in the Tribe of Mic-O-Say, honor camping society at Camp Geiger.

Submitted by RWB Wesley F Revels, St. Joseph Lodge No.78

MEMBERS OF ST JOSEPH LODGE NO.78
BEFORE 1900

John Curd (18?? - 186?) Born in Goochland County, Old Virginia, U.S.A. John Curd was the fourth of ten children of Dr. Isaac and Jane Watkins Curd.  He and his family moved to Fulton, MO, where he became a merchant.  By 1843 he and his brother, Isaac, became pioneer businessmen when they opened a dry goods store in St. Joseph, Missouri on the corner of Levee and Jules Streets.  Curd was a charter member of St. Joseph's first Masonic Lodge under Dispensation named DeWitt Lodge on October 16th, 1845.  At the next Missouri Grand Lodge Proceedings, the DeWitt Lodge charter was granted and its name changed to St. Joseph Lodge No78.

John Curd belonged to the Democratic Party and for most of the years between 1846 and 1862 he was the St. Joseph City Treasurer.

John Curd was one of the signers of the contract for the Central Overland California & Pikes Peak Express Company which was the parent company of the Pony Express.  Formed by William Russell, Alexander Majors and William Waddell as a freighting company supplying goods to the Western U.S. Territories, the company was originally called the Leavenworth & Pikes Peak Express Company.  The "COC&PPEC" made its first journey from Westport, Missouri toward Denver, Colorado on March 9th 1859.  In May of 1860 it absorbed the Stagecoach and Freight Lines running from Westport, St. Joseph MO; and Leavenworth, Atchison, KS to Denver Colorado and Salt Lake City, Utah.  The company's president William Russell, launched the Pony Express which carried mail by horse and rider from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California from April 3rd 1860 - October 1861.  The Pony Express became the American West's most direct means of communication before the telegraph was introduced to the Western Territories of the U.S.

John Curd was also one of the original directors of the first railroad built west of the Mississippi River, the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad.  The Locomotive "Missouri" is said to have carried the first letter to the Pony Express in 1860.  Construction on the Hannibal & St. Joseph Line, formed in 1846 at the Hannibal Office of John Marshall Clemens, Father of Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) and began construction in 1851 from Hannibal in the East and St. Joseph in the West.

It is not known when John Curd passed away, but it was sometime during the beginning of the Civil War.


Source: St. Joseph Public Library Digital Collection

Lozo-Needles Photo Album Volume 1 

Abstract:The Lozo-Needles Photo Album collection contains photographs of prominent citizens from St. Joseph, Missouri during the late 1800's.  Alexander Lozo had a photography studio during the years 1871 to 1889 at various locations in the Downtown area.  Lozo passed away on April 23, 1917 in Chicago, Illinois.  John T. Needles had a photography studio during the years 1874 to 1882 at various locations in the Downtown area.  Needles passed away in 1891 in Colorado.