Mattie Evelyn Howell

1925-2017

(Photo)

Connie Howell was reunited with her heavenly family on July 2, 2017, just shy of her 92nd birthday. She was born July 16, 1925 in Baylor Hospital, Dallas, TX. to John Henry Conley and Essie Delle Parker. Mattie Evelyn was an only child, but grew up in a loving extended family. She attended W.H. Adamson High School and Oak Cliff Methodist Church in Dallas. She had many fond memories of her young life, but lost her mother when she was 19 years old.

Connie was beautifully talented. She art-fully played the accordion promoting the Texas State Fair but sold her accordion to take up ice skating. She performed at the sparkling ice shows at the Hotel Adolphus Century Room, under the direction of Dot Franey in the early 1940’s.

While taking organ classes at SMU, Connie met the love of her life, John K. “Dixie” Howell, a bright, handsome, young Navy man just back from World War II, attending SMU on the B12 program. They were married in Dallas, in 1946, starting a life together full of adventures and opportunities.

Opportunities meant promotions with relocations. Connie dutifully uprooted their growing young family as they moved from Dallas, to Pittsburgh, to Dallas, to St. Louis and back to Pittsburgh in the span of 24 years, with a daughter born in each city. In 1970, the couple made their last move back to Texas to start BRH Mobility Systems which later became JKH Mobility Services. Connie took great pride in the work that her husband had done as “Father of the People Mover.”

On this path, Connie continued to develope the mainstays of her faith and family and merged them with her passion for flowers. In each new community she brought a Methodist church into their lives. At the Methodist Church in Murrysville, Pennsylvania, Connie devotedly arranged the altar with flowers each Sunday. It was her gift, and it was well received.

In Houston, this passion for flowers evolved into studying, then teaching Ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arrangement. Connie traveled three times to Japan studying floral design, becoming a Master in the Ohara School in 1999. In 2013, she was recognized at the 55th Anniversary of the Ikebana

Houston Chapter.

Her passion for design and arrangement also flowed into Christmas where her tree, with 1600 German and handmade ornaments, was a full-page feature in the Houston Chronicle. She subsequently opened the Holly Sprig shop in Woodlake Square, a Christmas store featuring finer European ornaments discovered on a buying trip to Germany.

Mattie Evelyn Howell was predeceased by her parents, her husband of 54 years, and daughter Joan. She is survived by her daughter, Harriette Green and husband Jim, daughter Adele Bentsen and husband Lan, as well as grandchildren Brian Green and wife Lisa, Adam Green and wife Marcy, Eric Green and wife Lane, Skyler Stewart and husband Jimmy, Kendall Bentsen, Kate Bentsen, Jennifer Turner, Mead Turner, Blake Turner, and great grandchildren Anna and Evie Green, Alex and Abigail Green, Wilson Green, Sydney and James Stewart.

The family would like to express their deepest appreciation for the loving support of caregiver Desiree Liggan. Connie and Desiree were always up for an adventure,

and every day involved admiring flowers and often bringing them home.

The family requests that friends consider placing flowers at the altar of their place of worship in memory of a loved one or in some small way pass on Connie’s love of

flowers.