Howard, Val LaMere Papers

Dates: 1948-2015

Nurse and Personal Companion of Bess Truman, 1977-1982

The papers of Val LaMere Howard include audiovisual recordings, books, correspondence, press clippings, photographs, and other items concerning her life and her association with Bess Truman.

[Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List]

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Size: 2.5 linear inches (about 275 pages).
Access: Open.
Copyright: The donor gave her copyright interest in writings in this collection, and in any other collection in the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration, to the United States of America. Documents created by U.S. Government employees in the course of their official duties are in the public domain. Copyright interest in other documents in this collection presumably belongs to the creator of those documents, or their heirs.
Processed by: Susanna DeHaven (2017) as part of the Truman Library Internship Program.
Supervising Archivists: Randy Sowell and David Clark.


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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Valeria Garber LaMere (Val) Howard was born on February 8, 1926, in Waynesboro, Virginia. She remained in Virginia until she moved with her first husband, Frank LaMere, to Independence, Missouri, in 1950. After the death of Frank LaMere, she married Darrell Howard, who died in 1996.

Val Howard trained as a practical nurse. She worked for hospitals in both Independence and Warrensburg, Missouri, and served as a personal nurse and caregiver in the homes of elderly patients. In 1977, Howard began working for the widowed Bess Truman as a nurse and personal companion, which she continued doing until Truman's death in 1982.

Howard died on October 17, 2016, in Independence, Missouri.

[ Top of the page | Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List ]

COLLECTION DESCRIPTION

The papers of Val LaMere Howard include audiovisual recordings, books, correspondence, press clippings, photographs, and other items concerning her life and her association with Bess Truman. The collection consists of one series, a Subject File.

The collection contains audiovisual recordings of Howard's memories and impressions of Bess Truman, books signed by members of the Truman family, and press clippings on various aspects of Howard's life, particularly in relation to Bess and Harry S. Truman. Also included are photographs of Howard with Bess Truman, President Jimmy Carter, and others. Other materials in the collection include correspondence and various personal items.

More information about Mrs. Truman can be found at the Truman Library in the papers of Bess W. Truman.

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SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

Container Nos.

 

Series

1

  SUBJECT FILE, 1948-2015
Audiovisual recordings, books, correspondence, press clippings, photographs, and other items concerning Val Howard's life and her association with Bess Truman. Arranged alphabetically by folder title, and thereunder chronologically.
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FOLDER TITLE LIST

SUBJECT FILE, 1948-2015

Box 1

  • Audiovisual
  • Books
  • Correspondence
  • Newspaper Clippings
  • Personal
  • Photographs
  • Printed Materials
  • Truman, Bess
[ Top of the page | Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List ]