George William 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 thirteen 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 fund raiser for what is now named the Wendell Foster Center. 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 (Melissa) Howard, Dru Heinz, David, Ryan (Kristen) and Alex Bumm, Paul, Kyle and Neil Mattingly; granddaughters Elizabeth Howard, Rachel (Carter) Wright, Ruth (Jim) Clarke, Ann Howard 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 Immaculate Church on Wednesday, Feb. 25, at 11 am. Visitation will be at Glenn Funeral Home and Crematory on Tuesday, Feb. 24, from 2 until 8 pm with prayers at 6 pm and after 9 am on Wednesday. Burial will follow in Resurrection Cemetery.

Expressions of sympathy may take the form of donations to Catholic Charities, 600 Locust St., Owensboro, KY 42301; St. Vincent DePaul, 1848 Triplett St., Owensboro, KY 42303; or Catholic Relief Services, 228 W. Lexington St., Baltimore, Maryland, 21201-3443.