A fine art print once owned by West Plains native and Country music pioneer Jan Howard has returned home following a donation to Ozark Heritage Welcome Center by Michael and Tonya Hinton and their daughter, Melissa.
The print depicts downtown West Plains as it appeared during horse and buggy days, highlighting the old courthouse and the Catron Opera House at the corner of Court Square and West Main Street. Originally presented to Howard by the City of West Plains, the artwork hung in her Nashville, Tenn., home for decades.
Michael Hinton purchased the print at an estate sale following Howard’s death in March 2020 at age 91. After displaying it in their own home for several years, the Hinton family decided to donate the piece to the welcome center while traveling through the area to visit their daughter in Mtn. Home, Ark.
“Given Jan’s deep West Plains roots, we felt strongly that this special piece of her collection belonged back home in West Plains where it can be enjoyed and appreciated for years to come,” Hinton said.
Though arguably not as well known as Porter Wagoner, another West Plains resident who made a name for himself as a musician, Howard first started showing up in the charts around the same time, in the mid-1960s through 1970s.
Born Lula Grace Johnson, Howard spent most of her childhood in West Plains and married as a teenager. As a young military wife, she spent several years moving with her husband and three sons throughout the midwest and west, including Dora and West Plains, where her husband found work teaching.
She and her first husband were divorced in 1953, and she remarried, but left her second husband after discovering he had not legally divorced his first wife. That marriage was annulled in 1955. During the brief time they were married, Howard lost a newborn son to a cerebral hemorrhage and miscarried a pregnancy.
After her second marriage ended, Howard moved to California with her sons, where she met songwriter Harlan Howard. The two married in 1957, about a month after being introduced by one of her friends. Subsequently, she was given the stage name “Jan Howard” by her first record label, and her first single was released in 1958.
Howard rose to national prominence on Decca Records in the mid-1960s, scoring a top-five hit in 1966 with “Evil on Your Mind,” which became her signature song. Around the same time as fellow West Plains native Porter Wagoner, Howard became a staple on national country charts and the Grand Ole Opry.
Her career was also marked by deep personal tragedy. Her 1968 release “My Son” was written for her oldest son, Jimmy, who was drafted into the Vietnam War and killed in action at age 21. It was around that time her marriage to Harlan Howard ended. In 1972, her youngest son, David, died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound following struggles with mental health and substance abuse. Howard later detailed her personal challenges and country music career in her autobiography, “Sunshine and Shadow.”
She continued to record albums and tour with other country legends as her music career slowed down, but turned to writing her autobiography, including traumatic experiences from her childhood and challenges with her own mental and physical health. Howard died of pneumonia in March 2020 at age 91, in Gallatin, Tenn.
Ozark Heritage Welcome Center Tourism Assistant Terry Hampton expressed gratitude to the Hinton family for returning the artwork, noting its cultural significance to the city's musical history.
Hinton is notable for his effort to preserve rural heritage; following an interest in antique tractors sparked during his time in West Plains, he helped establish National Antique Tractor Preservation Day on Aug. 22, and was inducted into the National Agricultural Hall of Fame last year.
