Howard S. Fales, 87, of Redding, Connecticut passed away on August 27, 2018 at Memorial Hospital in New York City.  He was the loving husband of the late Alice (Merwin) Fales.

Howard was born on September 17, 1930 in Dorchester, Massachusetts, the middle son of Alice (Kimball) Fales and Oliver W. Fales.  Howard attended schools in Dorchester, MA and graduated from Boston English High School in 1948.  Growing up he enjoyed spending summers with his mother's relatives on their farm in Bethel, Maine.  He was also an electronics and audiophile geek assembling his own radios and phonographs and collecting LP albums.  Howard was active in Boy Scouts and attended the Second Church in Codman Square, Dorchester.  After retiring, he re-connected with the friends he had growing up and every year would attend the "Dorchester Kids" reunion.

After High School Howard attended Northeastern and studied chemical engineering.  From 1953-1954 he served in the U.S. Army in Kaiserslautern, Germany as part of the 7 ^th Army's Air Photo Interpretation Center.  His service nurtured a life-long love of photography and travel.  After the Army, Howard worked for Escambia Chemical Corporation and moved with the company when they opened a new pilot plant in Wilton, CT.  Mrs. Gertrude Merwin, a secretary at Escambia, held a mixer at her home for all the young men recently relocated from Boston so they could meet the locals.  It was at that mixer where Howard met Gertrude's daughter, Alice Merwin, the love of his life.  They were married for 45 years until Alice passed in 2006.

Howard had a long career as a mechanical engineer working for Crawford & Russell (and its successive iterations) in Stamford, CT designing chemical, plastics, and pharmaceutical plants.  In the early 1980's, Crawford & Russell sent him on assignment in the Netherlands where he and Alice lived for two years and traveled Europe extensively.  Howard eventually retired from Kvaerner John Brown Construction in 1997.

A resident of Redding, CT since 1961, Howard and Alice raised their two children there.  Family activities included boating, hiking, and camping and spending summers on Stinson Lake in Rumney, New Hampshire.  After retirement, Howard kept busy with a daily crossword and expertly refinishing antique furniture for relatives and acquaintances using skills he learned from his father, Oliver.  Every August Howard made a "Northern New England Trek" to visit friends and especially his relatives in Bethel, Maine.

In 2017 Howard was diagnosed with a rare cancer, ultimately by DNA analysis, at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.  Howard was given the opportunity to participate in a clinical trial at MSK which gave him an extra 10 months of relative good health until his disease eventually caught up with him.  Through it all, he maintained a positive outlook and his sense of humor.

Howard was predeceased by his parents, his wife Alice, and his older brother, Walter K. Fales of Michigan.  He was also predeceased by his sisters-in-law Jane O. Merwin, and Martha Merwin (Phillip) Burr.  He is survived by his daughter, Catherine Fales, of Redding, CT and his son, William Fales, of Bethel, CT.  He is also survived by his younger brother, Raymond L. (Judy) Fales of Buffalo, NY, his sister-in-law, Phyllis Fales of Royal Oak, Michigan, and his brother-in-law, Timothy T. (Virginia) Merwin IV of Wilton, CT as well as several well-loved nieces and nephews.

A memorial service celebrating Howard's life will be held at Newbury Congregational Church, 126 Tower Road, Brookfield, CT on Sunday, September 16 ^th at 12:00 p.m. noon.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations in Howard Fales' memory to support Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.  Checks, made payable to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, should be mailed to: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Attn: Emily Carter, 885 Second Avenue, 7 ^th Floor, New York, NY 10017.  Please indicate on the check that the gift is in memory of Howard Fales.  Or if you prefer, a gift in Howard's memory can be made to the Bethel Historical Society, P.O. Box 12, Bethel, ME 04217.