Evelyn Edmiston Howell

Born in Mansfield, Louisiana, she was educated at the lab school at LSU. She then attended LSU, pledged Alpha Delta Pi and graduated in 1947. At LSU Evelyn was elected her junior and senior years as a “Campus Beauty" and was Co-Ed Vice President on the student body. She met her future husband and fellow LSU graduate, Paul Howell, at the Theta Xi Fraternity when he returned from the Pacific Theater at the conclusion of World War 2, on a doubles blind date. She was the other double’s date, but she and Paul really hit it off. She later taught high school in the same lab school she attended at LSU.

Evelyn loved dancing and riding Tennessee walking horses. She had the best Southern lady one-liners when dealing with boards or grandkids. She loved hugs, and thought there was always, always room for dessert, especially if it was chocolate. She was a fountain of knowledge on practical advice which she deftly blended with her unwavering religious faith. She loved art, music, and Revlon Fire and Ice lipstick. And she never forgot a name.

Evelyn was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, aunt and friend.

She especially wanted all of her friends and family to know how deeply she loved them.

She was so appreciative of the opportunity she had to enjoy such a full and productive life “from up yonder to down yonder,” or from the White House to the food line at the Salvation Army. She loved every minute of it all.

She was preceded in death by the two greatest loves of her life: her father and Paul Howell. Her father, Floyd Edmiston, was a veteran of World War I and a noted agronomist who became a Professor at the Ag Extension School at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. Evelyn had such fond memories of paddling the canoe while her father fly-fished the rivers of South Louisiana. She lost him in at an early age but never stopped referring to him as “my daddy”. She wanted him remembered as a straight, steady and true man who influenced her for the rest of her life.

Evelyn and Paul Howell led an amazing and giving life together. They were true inspirations to everyone who knew them. She has missed him every day since he left this earthly world and was happily anticipating their reunion in Heaven.

As the mother to four rambunctious boys and the wife to an extraordinarily driven and successful husband, Evelyn always had a full plate. Yet her life was defined by her incredible giving spirit, not just to her family but to all her knew her.

Evelyn immersed herself in philanthropic and church activities. She was Founding Board Member of LifeHouston and was an Advisory Board Member of the UT Health Science Center Dental Branch. Evelyn and Paul were committed to the Haiti Education Fund and made multiple trips to Haiti to help bring clean water and construct schools in some of the most remote and impoverished areas. She was the first female Senior Warden of St. John the Divine Episcopal Church and was President of the Episcopal Church Women. Evelyn was a Co-Founder of The Episcopal High School in Houston, and a volunteer at the Guild Shop for over forty years. She was on the Board of St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital and St. Luke’s Episcopal Health Charities, and was a Founding Member and President of Friends of Nursing. She was long-time supporter of The River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, Rice University, Louisiana State University, Trinity University, the University of the South, the University of Texas at Austin and Texas Military Institute in San Antonio. She was a guiding force in the fundraising for the new theater for the AD Players, was President of the River Oaks Rose Club, the Holly Hall Retirement Community in Houston, the Residents’ Association at The Hallmark and Vice President of the St. James House Retirement Community in Baytown. She was Owner and Broker of Howell Properties for four years, a member of River Oaks Country Club, as well as President of Chapter AC of PEO of Houston. She was a member of the Advisory Board of the Salvation Army in San Antonio for over a decade, President of the Daughters of the King for the Episcopal Diocese of Texas and the first female Senior Warden of St. David’s Episcopal Church in San Antonio.

Also preceded in death by her husband of 54 years, Paul Neilson Howell, as well as her parents Floyd Edmiston, Sr. and Onie (Galloway) Edmiston and brother Floyd Edmiston, Jr., Evelyn is survived by her sons and their wives, Steven and Judy of Houston; Douglas of San Antonio; David and Margaret-Mary of McLean, Virginia; Bradley and Sara of Houston and Kimberly Howell of San Antonio; 15 grandchildren: Matthew, Mark, Richard, Rachel, Lee, Jaxen, Stephen, Courtney, Jeff, Sarah, Andrew, Amy, Lauren, Neil and Chase; 7 great-grandchildren: Finley, Charlotte, William, Caroline, Connor, Aiden and Gabriel. The family is most appreciative of the dedicated care given to Evelyn by Dr. Robert Jackson and her caregivers Cristina Vega, Teresa Mangnill, Jasmine Johnson and Stephanie Moreno, as well as Houston Hospice.

Friends are cordially invited to a visitation with the family from five o’clock in the afternoon until seven o’clock in the evening on Thursday, the 10th of October, in the Jasek Chapel of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston.

A memorial service is to be conducted at two o’clock in the afternoon on Friday, the 11th of October, at The Church of St. John the Divine, 2450 River Oaks Boulevard in Houston. Immediately following, all are invited to greet the family during a reception to be held in the nearby Sumner’s Hall.

Prior to the memorial service, the family will have gathered for a private interment at Memorial Oaks Cemetery in Houston.

In lieu of customary remembrances, and for those desiring, memorial contributions may be directed to The Church of St. John the Divine, 2450 River Oaks Blvd., Houston, TX 77019; The Salvation Army, 1500 Austin St., Houston, TX 77002; or Friends of Nursing at St. Luke’s Hospital, PO Box 20269, Houston, TX 77225.