Clayton and Helen Howard
Clayton Howard was born on November 27, 1918 to missionary parents in Canton, China. His father, Charles Howard, an entomologist and college professor, and his mother, Anne, a biologist and teacher, served at a Christian university and conducted research for the Chinese government . When Clayton was 9 years old the family returned to the U.S. where his father developed the biology department at Wheaton College (IL). Howard attended Wheaton Academy and in 1939 graduated from Wheaton College with a physics degree followed by a year of graduate studies in physics at the University of Chicago. After hearing an Easter radio broadcast in 1940, Clayton contacted HCJB Global co-founder Reuben Larson who then recruited him to join the technical team at La Voz de Los Andes (the Voice of the Andes) in Quito, Ecuador. College Church in Wheaton commissioned him as a missionary, and he arrived in Ecuador where he served at Radio Station HCJB, an international shortwave station in Quito from 1941 to 1984. On September 12, 1942, he married Helen Marie Prestidge and for more than two decades he and his wife hosted the popular shortwave radio listeners' program, DX Partyline, for shortwave enthusiasts. He was also a behind-the-scenes technical engineer at the religious shortwave broadcaster for over four decades. A career highlight for Clayton was helping a fellow engineer at the station, Clarence Moore, design and build the world's first cubical quad antenna. He contributed to the growth of HCJB from a small radio facility to a major international broadcaster, reaching out with the gospel message in many major languages. Upon retirement, the Howards spent 10 years in Florida, then moved to Go Ye Village, a Christian retirement center in Tahlequah, OK. Clayton Howard died January 27, 2011 at age 92.