Myrel Albert Howard

Myrel Albert HOWARD, 97, of Richmond, Virginia, died Friday, 8 May 2015. Born on Thursday, 4 April 1918, in Mulvane, Kansas, he was the oldest child of Ada Lenora MICKLE and Harry Lee HOWARD. On Thursday, 2 January 2014 he was preceded in death by his wife of 72 years, Donalda Jean “Donnie” MacDONALD.

Myrel lived his early years near Mulvane, Kansas. While at Mulvane High School, he became the Kansas Mathematics Champion. He was taught by Mrs. Allen who years later also taught his son and daughter Phyllis. Myrel spent his teenage years during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl. The family moved to farm near Bonners Ferry, Idaho in October of 1935 and he graduated High School there in 1936. He worked driving a dump truck and attended Northwest Business College in Spokane, Washington. His first government job was with the US Forest Service as a Forest Ranger in 1938. He returned to Kansas in about 1941 as the war raged in Europe. He proposed marriage to a smart young girl he knew from high school in Idaho, Donalda MacDonald. His brother Lester had married Donnie’s older sister Doris six months earlier. After Donnie accepted, Myrel drove with family members 1600 miles from Kansas to Idaho nearly nonstop. Myrel and Donnie were married on the 7th of July, 1941 in Bonners Ferry, Idaho.

After the marriage, Myrel and Donnie returned immediately to Wichita. Their first home was rented near his grandmother Goldsberry’s place on St. Louis street. He worked at Beech Aircraft during WWII on the night shift. During the day, he acquired a pilot license in 1941 through the US Pilot Training Program and became an officer in the Civil Air Patrol. Next, they moved to a rental on Exposition St. near Riverside Park. His first child, Charles, was born here. He worked days as lifeguard at the Wichita Municipal pool in the Park. He acquired a horse named Spur kept on his parent’s farm. Near the end of WWII, they rented a house at 312 Pattie St. where his second child Phyllis was born. As a member of the Westside Evangelical United Brethren Church, he was made a Deacon and played a major role in getting their new church built.

His adventures into real estate started with the purchase of the 240 acre farm near Yates Center, Kansas in the 1940’s. He acquired a vacant corner lot at 1201 N. Pershing. Designed and built a large house there in 1947. Patty was born here. The basement was made an apartment and rented for a time. The house across the street was purchased and a rental unit built in the basement too.

While working at Beech Aircraft, Myrel went to Cuba for three months. He worked for Boeing Aircraft from 1949-1953. Thereafter he worked for the Air Force in the Defense Department. He oversaw the installation of many Titan missile silos in Kansas and Oklahoma during the Cold War. In 1964 Myrel, Donnie and their daughter Patty moved to Gardena, California. Myrel was still working in the Defense Department as a Contract Negotiator. In 1973, he and Donnie relocated to the Washington, D.C. area. Myrel at one point worked on a team to prepare US facility staff for the Nuclear Arms Agreement inspections by the Soviet Union. Myrel retired from the Defense Department on November 30, 1990 with over 50 years of service to his country.

His great talent with numbers and a remarkable memory for facts and relatives served him well. He kept in touch with many relatives by "dropping by for a visit". He always tried to do his best as he saw it and took modest satisfaction in his considerable achievements. Perfection was always a goal. His real estate was like a collection hobby. He bowled, played cards, fished, hunted, acted and danced.

Myrel is survived by three children, Charles and his wife Marilynn, Phyllis SOINE and her husband Bill, and Patricia “Patty” DREWRY and her husband David; one sister, Jeanne BLACKFORD; three grandchildren, Nathan DREWRY and his wife Ruth, Tara Cay Howard and Anna TRENT and her husband Caleb; and six great grandchildren.

Myrel Albert was preceded in death by his wife, parents and three siblings, Lester HOWARD, Glenn “Bud” HOWARD, and Betty PATTERSON.

Funeral service: 2pm Saturday, May 16, 2015, Smith Mortuary, 1415 N. Rock Rd., Derby. Burial will be in Mulvane Cemetery.

May there be no weeds in heaven - only wings.