Howard Leander Korn, 73, of Tukwila Washington , passed away on July 29th 2026. The day of The Buck Moon. This is very poignant and special if you knew Howard.
He died from complications caused by procedures and treatments for laryngeal cancer. This has been hard to accept because he had already fought cancer before and beat the odds.In 2011 he had major surgery to remove cancer from his jaw. The surgery happened just days after his Grandson, Jacob was born.
He also defied death in a head-on car collision in 2020 where he was pulled out of the wreckage by the jaws of life. He fought extremely hard to recover from each of those instances. He did it with hard work, love for life, and unprecedented strength.
Howard was born on May 1st 1953 to Billy and Velma Korn in Portland, Oregon. They already had two daughters, Theresa and Melinda, with Howard being their third child. Then in 1964, when Howard was 11 years old, Billy and Velma had triplets daughter, Athena, Brenda and Cynthia. Howard became a big brother to triplet sisters. The birth of triplets was a very big deal and the whole family was in the newspaper.
Howard grew up fishing, boating, camping, hunting, playing baseball and golfing. These are just a few things he did while growing up. They also carried into his adulthood.
He lived and attended school in Lake Oswego, Oregon. He then graduated High School in Hilo, Hawaii. After graduating he moved back to Oregon.
Howard met his love, Suzanne, and they wed July 12th 1974. They had two children, daughter Angela in 1975 and their son Joseph in 1979. Howard had a successful career in the copier and printer business. In 1981 Howard moved his family to Tukwila, Washington to follow that career. Soon after that he became friends with our next door neighbor, Brian Mills. In no time Howard considered Brian as a brother. From then on, our families were family. Howard considered this a true blessing.
In the fall of 1987, Howard moved his family to Boise, Idaho.
There, he was able to show his children his love for the outdoors. He took them ice fishing, camping, hunting, boating, shooting and four wheeling. The time he took his family camping in the Sawtooth Mountains is just one of many treasured memories.
In 1990, Howard moved his family back to Tukwila, Washington. This time with a new career working at Boeing Flight Test. He worked there for decades until his retirement in 2017. He really enjoyed working there and made many friends along the way.
His favorite hobbies were playing golf and hunting. He won the 2025 championship for the Boeing ReTees Golf League. Pictured above.Over his lifetime, Howard hunted in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Wyoming. Wyoming was his absolute favorite.
Howard and Suzanne were married for 40 years, only to be parted by her death on May 1st 2015. Suzanne passed away peacefully in her sleep at their home.
After years of grieving, Howard started taking much better care of his health. He then started dating again. He was lucky enough to meet Marilyn in 2018. They enjoyed many adventures and travels together. His favorite was going to Hilton Head.
Early in life, our father learned the importance of hard work and he instilled that same work ethic in us. Dad would say, “If you’re going to do something, don’t half ass it.” We live by it.
Family was very important to Howard and he loved them dearly. He was a good friend to many. He wanted his family and friends to enjoy life and live it to the fullest.
Howard enjoyed spending time with his Grandson, Jacob. He taught him many life skills over the years.Howard was very proud of his daughter Angela and extremely proud of his son Joseph. He was known to brag about them often.
Howard faced every challenge in life with admirable strength and courage. He is considered a legend by many that knew him.
To say he will be missed is an understatement. We will hold the best memories in our hearts forever.
Love you Always Dad.
Howard Korn was a unique guy!
I met Howard back in the early 80’s when he lived next door to us in Tukwila, Wa. I was around 19 then, just out of high school and working in a warehouse for records and tapes. Howard always looked nice in a shirt and tie going to work, but I didn’t know what he did.
One day I was working on my 1971 Nova out on the street curb, under the car with my feet sticking out. Howard came over and gave me a nudge and said “looks like you know how to work on things… what do you think about working on office machines?”
It was a Saturday, so we drove to his office and he showed me the new Sharp model copiers they sold. “Think you could fix these?”. “No Problem” I said.
So he hired me as a copier technician in May 1983. Howard was at my wedding in August of that year, and I celebrated my 21st birthday at work that year. I think it was Howard that gave me my first hard drink. 🙂
Howard was a very fun manager to work for. He knew the business and copiers and taught my a lot in those early years! I spend my career at that company and just retired in 2025.
He introduced me to other options in life rather than just ‘blue collar’ jobs. Working in the office equipment industry kept me in shirts and ties during my career and feeling better about myself, striving for more education and professional positions. I eventually became the service manager, filling his old shoes.
I remember one summer day, I got a call from Howard that his boat had broken down in Tacoma and he needed a tow all the way back up to Edmonds Marina. So I launched my boat and found him, tied up a tow line and headed north. But he had a very heavy wood boat, so the tow was very slow and would take all day. As we got to Seattle, we had to cross the ferry lanes. I thought I had plenty of time to cross, but as the Bainbridge ferry left the Seattle dock, it blew its horn loud as our paths got closer. All of its passengers were up front watching for the impending disaster, and that ferry missed Howard and his boat by only a few feet. The wake nearly capsized him!
Our long trip got crazier as I approached the Edmonds marina entrance. Heavy winds kicked up and nearly smashed us on the rocks. I had to make several emergency moves to keep him off the jetty rocks, within inches this time! He literally ran to the bow and used his feet to push off the boulders! Whew!
It’s still a favorite Howard story I tell today.
We went on other camping adventures and had great work parties. I golfed with him many times and learned then what a good golfer he was.
Howard and Sue were fun people and great neighbors, and I have warm memories of them both.
I’ll always keep my Howard stories. He’ll definitely be remembered!