John Howard
John Albert “Bub” Howard, 95, of Cow Creek in McCone County died Feb. 25, 2026.
He was born May 25, 1930, in Wolf Point to Murvale Eastman Howard and Flossie Fountain Howard. He got his nickname from his father when he was a little boy, when his father referred to him one time affectionately as Buster and Bub quickly quipped back, “My name isn’t Buster, it’s Bubba.” The name stuck and was eventually shortened to Bub.
As a child, he attended school first at Hamblin, then Cow Creek, and one of his favorite childhood pastimes was riding pigs. After graduation from Circle High School in 1948, he returned to the family farm to grow wheat and raise cows for more than 70 years.
His memory of farming and living on the farm is unprecedented. When asked, he’d talk about how he and his father used a CAT to pull a 30’ toolbar in the 1950s or that they were one of the first people on the scene of the B-52 crash just north of the Howard property in 1964. He was always happy to visit with friends over the phone or a cup of coffee at his kitchen table.
He was a farmer through and through; however, he did have other hobbies. He was an avid photographer and a collector of cameras and photography equipment, as well as a gun collector.
His life took a romantic turn when he married Julie Elverud July 4, 1993. He continued living at the farm, while Julie lived in Circle, but they always found time to spend together. In the spring of 2018, he moved to town permanently to live with Julie following an illness. He walked 12 blocks almost daily and people around town would often see him carrying his cane above his head, instead of using it to steady himself.
