Born: December 15, 1931
Deceased: January 28, 2017
Biography Howard W. Shoemaker
Howard, a Council Bluffs native, attended AL High School, in orchestra and a Band Drum Major. A hard worker at a young age, Howard worked various jobs, in 1947 at JC Penney, John Beno Co., sign lettering & window display. Howard played Alto Sax & Clarinet in the “Freddy Nimtz Dance Band.” Married in 1952, he served in the U.S. Army from 1952-1954, in the 265th Field Artillery, XVIII Airborne Corps, at Fort Bragg, N.C. He was assigned to hand design a Models Mechanical Drawing Manual for training material for the Atomi Canon 280mm. He transferred to the 440th Army Band, XVIII Airborne in N.C. Howard played in the Freddy McCoy Jazz Group in VA, and N. & S. Carolina.
After serving, Howard worked at WOWTV & KMTV in 1954, Asst. Art Director, camera art & set design, Christian-Kennedy, animation art. He was an Art Director at Bozell & Jacobs Advertising for 9 years. In 1957, Great Plains Region, PCA was formulated by Howard & Janice and 4 other couples. He joined the Porsche Club of America in 1958, and continued his membership to 2005. Among Porsche literature collectors, Howard W. Shoemaker is best known for his cartoon book on Porsche. It was a factory publication printed in September 1964, advertised in the customer magazine Christophorus, and only sold through the Porsche Press Department. 45 pages, 43 cartoons featuring 356, Speedster, 550 Spyder, RSK, RS 60/61, 356B 2000GS Carrera 2, 911, and 904
Howard was self-employed as an internationally known Artist and Cartoonist, working from home for Mutual of Omaha (designed the Indian Head Logo), Northwestern Bell, Fairmont Foods, Gus Renze Co., American Greeting Corp. (12-24 new designs monthly) for 12 years, Dr. ING. H.C.F. Porsche AG Stuttgart, “Road & Track” Magazine (1965-1990+), artist for “Der Skooner” Magazine, art/cartoons for “Jazz Magazine” NYC, and in 1965 “Jazz Press” published a cartoon collection. Howard was a Cartoonist for Playboy Magazine 1959-2006, including European editions because “captionless cartoons bridge the language barrier.” He was a contributor to “Underground Press,” “Realist,” “EVO,” “L.A. Free Press,” and others. He worked for many other advertising agencies, published 3 books of cartoon creations, and made cards/cartoons for his wife and family every holiday or occasion as he saw fit.
After retirement, Howard made beautiful trains (to scale) and other carvings. Howard spent the last 2 years of his life under the wonderful care of Douglas County Health Care Center and suffered from Dementia/Alzheimer’s.
