Two lives well-lived

Opinion

Discussion

February 21, 2013

Two lives well-lived

Anonymous From staff reports The Kokomo Tribune Thu Feb 21, 2013, 12:33 AM EST

THE ISSUE: The extraordinary life and death of Earle Howard.

OUR VIEW: He gave his life to public service and his heart to Lou Nell, his wife.

Many older residents of Howard County knew Earle Howard, who died Friday morning — 10 minutes after his wife, Lou Nell, had passed away.

Born and raised in Kokomo, Earle Howard fought in World War II after graduating from Kokomo High School and earned two Bronze Stars.

He married the former Lou Nell Davis in 1949 and joined the Kokomo Police Department in 1950. He started out as a patrolman and retired in 1973 as police chief.

He then joined the Howard County Sheriff Department as chief deputy to Sheriff Bob Sargent, and served two terms himself as the county’s top cop.

But his career in public service wasn’t complete. He served as a state representative in the Indiana General Assembly from 1986 to 1994.

Earle Howard was a man of great achievement. But that wasn’t who he was.

He was Lou Nell’s husband and father of their only child, Julie.

“Often, a man like Earle is thought to be so driven by his profession that he ignores his family,” Howard County Sheriff Steve Rogers told family and friends during the Howards’ funeral at First Church of the Nazarene Tuesday.

“But Earle showed us we should be public servants because of our families — because of your family. He did what he did because of his family.”

The Howards’ health began to fail within the last year. Earle suffered from a heart condition, and Lou Nell had been diagnosed with dementia, their pastor, David Leeder, said at Tuesday’s funeral service.

Leeder said he visited the couple at their North Woods Village apartment last Wednesday. Earle told him he was ready to die.

“He said, ‘I don’t know how she’ll manage, and I don’t want to leave her. I don’t know what to do,’” Leeder told the crowd at the church.

So Leeder suggested praying God would allow Earle to pass away at the same time as his wife.

And, two days later, he did. He was 86, and Lou Nell was 82. They were married 63 years.

Earle Howard was a man of courage, integrity and service. He was admired and trusted by his friends and neighbors and adored by his family. He gave his life to public service and his heart to Lou Nell.

And she gave her heart to him.

Tribune columnist and night editor Rob Burgess told his wife the story surrounding the deaths of the Howards after reading their obituary.

“They won at life,” she said.

Text Only | Photo Reprints

Opinion

Move over, Ind. drivers
Keep highway and utility workers safe; remember to pull over for utility vehicles.

May 19, 2013
May 18, 2013: Cheers & Jeers
Commissioner earns respect of inmates

Kyle Stacy sends this Cheer for Howard County Commissioner Paul Wyman:

May 18, 2013
House of Burgess: The revolution will be printed
Another major milestone in the history of 3D printing was reached earlier this month when Cody Wilson, director of the nonprofit Defense Distributed, announced he had conducted the first-ever successful test firing of a completely 3D-printed gun in (where else?) Texas. Wilson then uploaded the plans online. These files were then downloaded over 100,000 times over the next 48 hours. That was, until the State Department intervened.

May 15, 2013 1 Photo
Hayden: From good to great in education
On the campaign trail last year and early into his administration, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence said repeatedly that his goal as governor would be to take Indiana from “good to great.”

May 14, 2013
Mom’s simple advice still presents a valuable challenge
Most moms don’t base their advice on scientific research. Instead, their words of wisdom come from a greater source — the heart, where they store and process life experiences. Unfortunately, some folks don’t receive the gift of maternal guidance, for various reasons.

May 14, 2013
Wolfsie: Making bird calls
One afternoon in 2011, my friend Eric spent a couple of hours over lunch explaining Twitter to me and I thought I understood it all, but as you’ll see from my first few tweets, I wasn’t very confident: “Is anyone getting this?”

May 13, 2013
Letter to the Editor: May 13, 2013
Good people wouldn’t do this to their neighbors. This common refrain is being heard over eastern Howard County where industrial development is planned for our farmland in the form of massive wind turbines.

May 13, 2013
Vasicek: Mother’s Day stresses
For two hours, the lady sitting next to another airplane passenger boasted about her grandchildren, producing a barrage of photographs. She finally realized that she had been talking the whole time, so she tried to make amends:
“Oh, I am sorry! I have monopolized the conversation. I will listen to you now. So please tell me: what do you think of my grandchildren?”

May 12, 2013
Letters to the Editor: May 12, 2013
How fortunate, that after years of trying to bring top-notch wind energy companies to Tipton County, this great choice is here for us — just at the right time. Tipton County badly needs the revenue from clean wind farm companies.

May 12, 2013
Cheers & Jeers: May 12, 2013
“A big cheer goes out to Kokomo for those who parked along the route to cheer on the bikes and to the riders who participated in the 11th Annual Ride For The Troops on Sunday, April 28. Despite the rain, we had a excellent turnout of 457 bikes!"

May 11, 2013
More Opinion Headlines

Opinion

Search Results

Discussion

Two lives well-lived

Site Map

Contact Us