He attended University Preparatory School in Tonkawa [now Northern Oklahoma College] in 1906 and 1907 while he taught in a one-room school in Watonga [now under water after the creation of the Kaw Reservoir] for two years to earn money for further education. He used to say that since some of the pupils were bigger than he, maintaining discipline took wit and speed as well as size.
In 1909 he entered the University of Oklahoma at Norman. He was active in Kappa Sigma fraternity and played football for Benny Owen, earning his varsity letter as a 154 pound tackle. In 1911 he was graduated with a B.S. degree and married on 28 June Margaret May Melvin, a fine arts and history major of the class of 1911. May’s parents were Dr. and Mrs. James Lambert Melvin of Guthrie, originally from Nemaha, Nebraska.
He was awarded the M.D. in 1918, then took an interneship and post-graduate work in eye, ear, nose, and throat surgery at Cook County Hospital. He returned to Norman and in 1919 was dean of the School of Pharmacy but after a short time opted for the private practice of medicine.
He chose Ponca City because it was the principal town of the county and had the largest population and drawing area, a necessity for a specialist. In addition, he would be near his family in Autwine, west of town.
He opened his office in a building on the south side of the 300 block of Grand Avenue in 1920 as an EENT specialist. He shared offices at first with Dr. Thomas McElroy, a bachelor, who used to say that the only square meals he had were when he accompanied Browne to the family farm west of town for dinner. When the Community Building was built, Dr. Browne moved there for the remainder of his career. He published several articles in medical journals and lectured to physicians and nurses as part of his duties. He served a turn as chief of staff of the Ponca City Hospital.
He was kept busy by the diseases of the pre-antibiotic era and the industrial accidents coming from the refineries and farms. He often remarked that “the swimming pools pay the rent,” referring to the Oklahoma summer “sinus” condition.
He was a Mason, Knight Templar, and Shriner, but was never really active in these organisations.His wife said he joined because he thought they would help him build a practice. He was an active Rotarian, one of the Ponca City club’s first presidents. A heart attack in 1937 cut short his medical career. He died 27 January 1945 after eight years in retirement. My mother survived him until 9 February 1972
. In Ponca City the family first lived in the 300 block on South Elm, then in 1926 built one of the first houses in Acre Homes, part of the Marland addition, at 131 Elmwood. Robert Browne died on the farm in 1920; his widow and eldest daughter Edna [b. 1884] worked the farm until the Depression took its toll, and the bank foreclosed. “Jenny” Browne then lived near her daughter Ada, Mrs. J. Morgan Bush, [b. 1888] in Tonkawa until her death in 1934. Edna [Mrs. Carl Benson] moved away and died in California.
Other children of Robert Browne were Henry V. [1891-1925 m. Gertrude Waggoner of Tonkawa, ch. Henry Jr., Helena, Martin], murdered by bootleggers while operating a ferry at Morro Bay, Arkansas, and Ralph [1893-1918 m. Alice Wilkins no ch.], killed in action while a sergeant with the 90th Division, AEF, France 17 September 1918. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
CHILDREN OF HOWARD STORM BROWNE
1. JANE ELIZABETH, born 30 August 1913; m. 1. 1935, Carl Wayne Stevens, of Newkirk (d ca 1970). 2. Dr. Claude Northcutt ca 1973 (d. 1978) d 6 Sep 1997.
Children: 1 Jane Anne 1939-2002 2. Carla Browne (1941-1953). 3. Martha Maurine b. 1949.
Jane went to Gulf Park College and to the University of Oklahoma. She married Wayne Stevens and did not graduate. Wayne was a lawyer, first in Newkirk, then Ponca City. Served as County Attorney of Kay County. He became ill in the ‘70's and Jane went back to OU and got her BA degree and an MS in Library Science. She worked for a while in the library at NOJC in Tonkawa, then became head librarian at the Ponca City Library, a job she held for 17 years. In retirement she devoted herself to travel and in 1993 moved to Houston to be near daughter Martha. She died there 6 Sep 1997.
2. BARBARA , 1915-1994; m. 1933 Roy A. Watts of Blackwell; ch. Allison Lee 1934-1970], Virginia 1940-] Roy worked for several oil companies and they moved around in Oklahoma and Kansas. He became a bulk oil dealer in Clinton, Oklahoma and Barbara was bookkeeper and managed the business after Roy’s death in a car accident in 1955. She married J.C. Pierce and survived him. She lived with her daughter Virginia in Carmichael, California. She died July 25, 1994.
3. HOWARD STORM, JR . b 1 July 1925-
Ponca City High School 1942
University of Oklahoma 1942-44
Active duty Navy V-12 7/1/43-12/31/1945
After two years of pre-medical study and duty at the U.S. Naval Hospital , Norman, OK, matriculated at Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, Illinois, September, 1944
MD degree 1949 after a year of interneship at Wesley Memorial Hospital, Chicago.
U.S. Navy Medical Corps 1949-1967
Specialist in orthopaedic surgery.
Married Doris Cox at Bremerton, Washington, 26 November 1949.
Children:
Stephen Wayne b 6/1/51
Elizabeth b 11/28/1954, m Mark Davidson 1989, m David Saenz 2000
Alastair Storm b 4/2/1957