George Drury Howard

George Drury Howard, 98, died Saturday, Feb. 21, 2015 at Owensboro Health Regional Hospital. He long ago retired as a rural mail carrier and part-time real estate broker.

During World War II, he served in the Marine Corps and took part in the Battle of Okinawa. At Noumea, New Caledonia, he helped fight a fire in a sabotaged ammunition ship and received a citation for bravery from Adm. Halsey.

A devout Catholic, he was a charter member of Immaculate Parish, where he served in the St. Vincent DePaul Society and the parish council. He directed the RCIA program there for 13 years and afterward, started an interfaith discussion group. He was the first chairman of Owensboro's Diocesan Pastoral Council.
As president of the National Association of Letter Carriers local, he started the annual Postman's Walk, a fundraiser for what is now named Wendell Foster's Campus for Developmental Disabilities. He was assistant scoutmaster of BSA Troop 15.

He was an avid fisherman, a bow hunter till well up in his eighties, and a big fan of UK and Notre Dame.
In retirement, he took up organic gardening, producing amazing quantities of vegetables, cantaloupes and strawberries in small, raised beds. He was proud of producing some of the earliest tomatoes around, which he raised from seed, and he supplied many friends with plants. He enjoyed being with people, talking with people, and playing cards with friends and family.

He was preceded in death by his wife of 66 years, Jennie Strehl Howard; parents, Herb and Izetta Howard; brothers, Joe (Evelyn) and John Everett (Bernadette) Howard; and sisters, Nina (Joe) Strehl, Marguerite Howard, Geraldine (Owen) Cecil, Martine (Walter) Ringled, Virginia Howard, Margie ("Mac") Cathey and Barbara (Lester) Phelps.

He is survived by his sons, Wayne (Barbara) Howard of Chicago and Father Randy Howard, presently pastor at Uniontown; daughters, Rita (Mark) Heinz, Mary Sheila Howard, Carol Howard of Louisville, Janice (Marty) Bumm and Laura (Jim) Mattingly; grandsons, David Howard, Dru Heinz, David, Ryan (Kristen) and Alex Bumm and Paul, Kyle and Neil Mattingly; granddaughters, Elizabeth, Rachel, Ruth, Ann and Mary Margaret Howard, and Stephanie (Stephen) Hardesty; six great-grandchildren; sisters, Angela (Bernard) Clark and Rosemary (John) Duncan; and many nieces and nephews.

A funeral Mass will be offered at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Immaculate Catholic Church. Burial will follow at Resurrection Cemetery. Visitation will be from 2 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, with prayers said at 6 p.m., at Glenn Funeral Home and Crematory, and after 9 a.m. Wednesday.

Expressions of sympathy may take the form of donations to Catholic Charities, 600 Locust St., Owensboro, KY 42301; St. Vincent DePaul, 200 E. 18th St., Owensboro, KY 42303; or Catholic Relief Services, 228 W. Lexington St., Baltimore, MD 21201-3443.