Jan Howard

Jan Howard (born Lula Grace Johnson; March 13, 1929 – March 28, 2020) was an American author, country music singer and songwriter. As a singer, she placed 30 singles on the Billboard country songs chart, was a Grand Ole Opry member and was nominated for several major awards. As a writer, she wrote poems and published an autobiography. She was married to country songwriter Harlan Howard. Howard was mostly raised in West Plains, Missouri. The family moved to various homes during her childhood. Marrying in her teens, Howard and her husband relocated various times, including Colorado, Kansas, Illinois, and Missouri. She took several part-time jobs to support her growing family, which included three children. Howard divorced her first husband in 1953. She met and married her second husband the same year. Moving to his military base, the couple and her three children lived a suburban lifestyle. In 1955, Howard discovered that he was a bigamist and she resettled with her children in Los Angeles, California. In 1957, she met and married Harlan Howard. Early in their marriage, he discovered that she could sing. Impressed by her voice, Harlan arranged for her to record demonstration tapes. These tapes were heard by other country artists and led to her first recording contract with Challenge Records. Howard had her first major country hit in 1960 with "The One You Slip Around With". As her husband's songwriting became more successful, Howard's recording career followed suit. She had her biggest success after signing with Decca Records. Howard had major hits with the singles "Evil on Your Mind" (1966) and "My Son" (1968). She also had several hits after teaming up with Bill Anderson, including the number-one hit "For Loving You" (1967). The pair continued recording and touring together until the mid-1970s. By 1973, two of Howard's children had died and she divorced Harlan Howard. In a depressive state, she nearly gave up her career. Upon the encouragement of other performers, she released several more albums and singles into the 1980s. At the same time, she began devoting time to other interests including writing. In 1987, Howard published her best-selling autobiography entitled Sunshine and Shadow. She also started writing poems and short stories, and remained active in other ways, including regular appearances on the Grand Ole Opry. She also worked with United States military veterans through various programs. She donated to charities and spoke at fundraisers. Lula Grace Johnson was born in West Plains, Missouri, the daughter of Linnie and Rolla Johnson. She was the eighth of 11 children, including two siblings who died before the age of two. Her mother was a nurse's assistant who took take care of elderly people at the family house. Her father was a brick mason who received employment assistance from the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression. The family moved frequently in her childhood in order for her father to sustain employment. They lived in various midwest communities including Kansas City, Birch Tree, and Oklahoma City. The family briefly returned to West Plains when Lula was eight. Upon her return, she was raped by a family friend. "My body was violated and my mind was damaged in a way I wasn't to know the full extent of for years to come," she wrote in her 1987 autobiography. The abuse was kept secret from her family in the years to come. Because the family moved frequently, Lula attended school sporadically during her childhood. Most of the buildings were one-room schoolhouses that were converted into churches on Sundays. At times, truancy officers would come by the Johnson home, forcing Lula to return to school. Lula's mother separated from her father in 1943, returning the children to West Plains. To help support the family, Lula worked as a dishwasher in a local cafe. Because the cafe owner could not afford to pay her, he gave Howard's family food for weekly meals. She then took a job at a drugstore at age 16. In 1945, she married Mearle Wood and subsequently dropped out of high school. Wood enrolled in the military after their marriage and the couple resettled Waynesville, Missouri. In their first home together, they shared a house with another military couple. She briefly returned to her parents' house after discovering Wood was engaging in an affair. However, when Wood was restationed in Little Rock, Arkansas, Howard reunited with him in his new location. Lula gave birth to three sons between the late 1940s and early 1950s. The young family continued to move as Wood took on various jobs and attempted to start university coursework as a teacher. One of their first residences was at a college campus in Pittsburg, Kansas. After Wood was informed of a better university to study teaching, he moved the family to Greeley, Colorado. Lula claimed that Wood refused to hold a job and with three small children, the family had little money to survive on, which resulted in Lula asking Wood's parents for money. In addition, the family's rented trailer caught on fire in the middle of the night. Lula and her children then returned to Missouri following the fire while her husband stayed at the university. Wood then dropped out of college but found a job as a public school teacher in the rural farm community of Dora, Missouri. The family then rented a three-home house with limited amenities. However, after Lula's youngest son developed pneumonia, they moved to a home closer to Dora's downtown neighborhood. Wood then brought his wife and children to Cairo, Illinois where he planned to work in a canning factory. After Lula discovered the dilapidated conditions in Cairo, she and her children left. Wood then moved his family to Sunflower, Kansas where he taught in a public high school. Wood was then fired after engaging in an affair with another teacher. After getting a new job repairing railroad tracks, Wood moved the family to Verdonia, Kansas. Yet, Wood was often missing from home and spent most of his income. Lula and her children then abandoned the apartment after the landlord threatened eviction. When the car Lula was driving ran out of fuel, Lula pulled over into a residential home where an elderly couple took her and her children in for several weeks. After asking for money, the family returned back to her parents home. Lula and her husband briefly reunited in West Plains after he obtained a new teaching position. However, Wood quit his job and when he decided to move again, Lula refused. According to Lula, Wood was angered by her refusal, and held a butcher knife to throat in response. His actions were interrupted when a friend knocked on the front door of their home. Lula and her three sons fled to her family's Oklahoma home the same day. Lula and Wood divorced in 1953. Lula and her children then moved in with her brother near Columbus, Ohio. She then married her brother's friend and US military sergeant Lowell "Smitty" Smith. Smith moved Lula and her children into local military housing and got a job in the "tea room" of the Morehouse Fashion Department Store. Lula then gave birth to the couple's child in 1954 who died shortly after birth due to complications from a cerebral hemorrhage. Smith was then transferred to Warrensburg, Missouri where the couple rented a three bedroom home in a suburban community. In Missouri, Lula became pregnant again but miscarried the child. Shortly after the miscarriage, Smith was transferred to the Panama Canal Zone and informed Lula he would send for her once he was settled. After not nearing from Smith, she received a letter in the mail informing her than Smith's first wife had never actually filed for divorce. Smith then reunited with his wife and his marriage to Lula was annulled in 1955. Lula decided to make a new start in Gardena, California in 1955. After pawning Smith's wedding ring for $25, Lula and her two children took a bus out to California. She then worked a series of low-wage jobs