Charles Allen Howe, 97

Charles Allen Howe, 97, known by everyone as Allen, passed away July 18, 2026, at the home he and his wife built in 1954. He was predeceased by his wife of 75 years, Eva (Timson) Howe.

Charles was born in Holderness, March 5, 1929, to David and Amelia (Mitchell) Howe. He was a life-long resident of Holderness, attended local area schools and graduated from Ashland High School. He preferred to be called Allen.

Allen grew up in a time when New Hampshire was more rural and small farms were commonplace. Hard work was the norm. To burn off excess energy, after dinner he and his brothers would clear rocks from the farm’s fields. Hard work may account for his longevity.

Allen was first employed in the 1950s by the State of NH Department of Transportation in Meredith, as a laborer. He started at DOT when machines had yet to supplant manual labor. Sanding roads in winters consisted of two men with shovels throwing sand out the back of the truck, and trees blocking the roads were cleared by two men with a crosscut saw. Allen was one of those men, but in addition to his physical strength he quickly demonstrated his aptitudes and abilities. He was promoted to patrol foreman in Meredith, later the patrol foreman in New Hampton, and ultimately the maintenance supervisor, the highest non-engineer position in District 3.

At home, his children remember Allen as always busy working; whether it be gardening, landscaping around his house, carpentry, or mechanical repairs. If it was mechanical and not working, it seemed he could always find a way to get it running. Yet somehow he still found time to fly fish for wild New Hampshire brook trout in remote tributaries of the East Branch of the Pemigewasset River and Flat Mountain Pond. His son vividly recalls eating sandwiches of brook trout that Allen cooked on a stream-side campfire. In the fall, his interest turned toward hunting, first deer in New Hampshire, then moose in Newfoundland. In 1954, he took the first of 12 successful annual trips to Newfoundland, moose hunting. His family and the whole neighborhood knew the fall moose season was approaching when Allen got out his moose calls and demonstrated for us the moans and grunts supposedly simulating moose in rut.

He capped his lifetime of outdoor adventures with two trips to Alaska. On the first trip his son and daughter-in-law took him in their raft on a 45-mile, multi-day float down the remote Talachulitna River to fish for Arctic grayling, rainbow trout and salmon. On his second trip, he and his son chartered a single-engine float plane and were left for a week at an isolated lake just outside Lake Clarke National Park to hunt caribou. Allen’s caribou antlers from that trip and a set of his Newfoundland moose antlers are on display at the Pemigewasset Valley Fish & Game Club.

Allen is survived by his daughter, Linda Zimmer; his son, Allen L. Howe and wife Sandra Sonnichsen; his grandchildren, Candy A. Fouts and husband Jon Fouts, Billie-Jo Purcell and husband Shawn Purcell, Toni L. Zimmer and fiancé Jeremy Somers, Thomas Howe and husband Thomas Goeschelbauer; his great-grandchildren, Jake, Patrick, Timothy, Anthony, Nicholas and Katlin; and his great-great-grandchildren, Brantley, Isabella, Bailee and Berkley.

A family-only graveside service will be held at 11 a.m., Saturday, July 25, at Trinity Churchyard Cemetery, 926 Route 175, Holderness. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Charles Howe’s name to Comfort Keepers and Pemi-Baker Hospice and Home Health in Plymouth, NH 03264. For more information, visit Dupuisfuneralhome.com.