94-Year-Old Vet Treats Himself To A New, Top-Of-The-Line Harley

MEDFORD, OR — At 94, Harry Howard makes no apologies for the new 2021 Street Glide he rode off the showroom floor Tuesday at the D&S Harley-Davidson dealership in Medford.

It’s ridiculous that he bought it, he said, chuckling.

“I have a ’91 Fat Boy and an ’04 Dyna Wide Glide,” Howard told Patch in a telephone interview. “I was in the shop getting parts, and I just happened to be walking through the showroom looking at those shiny motorcycles, and then I said, ‘Oh, what the hell. Why not?’

“At my age,” he said, “I’m entitled to do just about whatever I want.”

Howard says there’s nothing like seeing the outdoors from the seat of a motorcycle.

What’s the lure?

“Oh boy,” he began. “Motorcycles are a fascinating machine to begin with. The power you have at the twist of a wrist, that fresh air, the sound of that engine as you rev it up, when you hit the throttle, and it throws you against the seat — it’s just the whole motorcycle experience.”

It’s one of those “you have to be there to understand it” things.

“If somebody asks why I ride," he said, "if you have not ridden, an explanation is not possible. If you have ridden, it’s not necessary.”

Terrie Martin and her sisters, Sandy Unruh and Kim O’Toole, run the family dealership that their parents, Dick and Marie Martin, bought 50 years ago. Customers like Howard are like family, and Terrie Martin wanted to make sure the ’21 Street Glide was right for him.

Martin wasn’t sure about that. The top-of-the-line touring bike has a 1,750cc engine and weighs about 800 pounds. She understands the “Harley mystique” and the universal truth among riders that “if I have to explain it to you, you’re not gonna get it,” but the Street Glide is a lot of bike for anyone to handle, let alone a nonagenarian.

“You should have what you want, if you can handle it,” Martin recalled telling Howard when he said that at 94, he should ride whatever motorcycle he wanted.

“If I don’t think it’s the right fit, I’ll step up,” Martin told Patch in a telephone interview. “We lose customers every year in riding accidents or whatever. You have to look at what could have prevented that. When you sell a bike, you have to sell the right bike. Our customers are customers for life.”

Howard handled the bike like the seasoned rider he is.

“I feel very fortunate that I’m still able to do this at this point in my life,” he said. “I’m very conscious of my health and strength. I pumped iron way into my 50s and was a gymnast. I never smoked, and I don’t care much for alcohol. I’m still doing pretty well.”

Howard was born in Los Angeles and spent most of his life in Southern California. He retired after 40 years with Heidelberg Asia Pacific, where he worked in the service department, and moved to Medford.

“Oregon is pretty scenic,” he said, adding that seeing the back roads, high country, lakes and stream from a motorcycle is one of the best feelings on Earth.

“I’m an outdoor person — I like to fish and camp — and don’t like being cooped up inside,” he said. “On a motorcycle, you can throw your chest out and feel a part of the outdoors.”

Howard logs about 5,000 miles a year on his motorcycles. He doesn’t have any particular trips in mind, but Howard — who served as a Merchant Marine in World War II and with the U.S. Army during the Korean conflict — is certain he will be called into service with the Old Guard Riders, a nonprofit group that honors and supports U.S. military veterans and their families.

Old Guard Riders members escort veterans to their final resting places and stand in flaglines. They also work closely with the Missing in America Project to locate, identify and inter the unclaimed cremated remains of American veterans.

Howard was 22 when he got his first Harley in 1949. He gave up street bikes when his two children — a daughter, now 64, and a son, 59 — were growing up.

“When I started a family, I decided I better give up street bikes because I was the breadwinner,” he said. “I had a dozen or so dirt bikes. Falling down in the dirt is not like falling down on the asphalt.”

Howard has plenty of time to take his Street Glide on a tour now that he’s retired from a volunteer gig that almost became a second career, lasting three decades. He was a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) for abused and neglected children who cannot speak for themselves.

“When I was working, I didn’t have time or funds to do much in the way of contributing and volunteering,” he said. “When I retired — I’ve been pretty lucky in life — I decided I should give back.”

When he signed on and learned a two-year commitment was required, he was skeptical.

“I don’t know about this,” he recalled thinking. “Well, OK, 30 years later ….”

The kids got under his skin like a Harley-Davidson.

“Our job was to get to know the child and the conditions they were living in, and report back to the courts on progress and, particularly, if they needed anything,” he said. “We were considered an extra friend to be there if they ever need anything.

“It’s amazing how children respond. I just got along great with all the kids,” he said. “It was really gratifying.”

With more free time on Howard's hands, Martin at D&S Harley-Davidson can look forward to seeing more of the dealership’s oldest customer.

“Dealership” is too sterile a term to describe the place, Martin said.

“You don’t hang out at the Ford dealership,” she said. “At a Harley dealership, you hang out. We know your name. We know your dog’s name. You become part of the Harley family.

“If that person next to you is a plumber, a doctor, a Hells Angel rider or club rider, you’re all part of the same tribe.”

And Harry Howard can rightly be called the tribe’s elder.