Governor Tom McCall appointed Oregon Tax Court Judge Edward H. Howell, 55, to the Oregon Supreme Court Tuesday. The vacancy was created Friday by Chief Justice William C. Perry’s announced retirement after 18 years on the bench.

Judge Howell’s position will be pro tem until May 31, effective date for Judge Perry’s retirement.

Howell will have to seek election to the rest of Perry’s term in the November election.

In announcing his Supreme Court selection, McCall said; “Twenty years ago last October, I made a telephone call on behalf of Douglas McKay to notify a young John Day lawyer of his appointment as a circuit judge.

“The attorney’s name was Ed Howell, and today I am gratified to announce that I am naming Judge Howell to the Oregon State Supreme Court, succeeding Chief Justice William Perry.

“Judge Howell will bring to the high court a background such as no other justice has possessed, for he has served as judge of the Oregon State Tax Court as well as having been a long-time member of the circuit bench. His decisions over the years have been characterized by good sense and sound legal interpretation.

“An Eastern Oregonian like Chief Justice Perry, he is also something of a strict — but not rigid — constructionist. I know that his new colleagues on the state’s highest court will bid him a warm welcome. …”

Howell graduated from his hometown high school in The Dalles in 1934; took his undergraduate work at Willamette University; and went on to graduate from the Willamette College of Law in 1940.

After an initial law practice of one year in The Dalles, Howell became a captain in the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II, returning to law in John Day from 1946 to 1949. He was the first associated in practice with the late Earl Moore and then the late Gordon Wilson when he received his first judicial appointment.

At the age of 34, he was named by Governor Douglas McKay to the Circuit Court, 11th Judicial District, in October 1949. He has served on the bench continuously since that time, holding court in all 36 of Oregon’s counties.

Howell was a pro tem Supreme Court justice in 1960-61. Governor Mark Hatfield selected him in February 1965 for his present position as judge of the Oregon Tax Court.

Formerly president of the Oregon State Circuit Judges Association, he is now president of the Willamette Law Alumni Association.

Judge Howell and his wife, Jane, have twin daughters, Mary and Margaret, now studying at Eastern Oregon College, La Grande; and a third daughter, Patricia, enrolled at Oregon College of Education in Monmouth. The Howells reside in Salem.