Lifelong learner who fought in Iwo Jima valued every soul

Richard D. Howell Sr. lived just the way he ran track — steady, fast and proud.

The 89-year-old south Minneapolis native had just won the state track meet of 1944 when he was drafted into the segregated U.S. Army at age 17. He was a junior at South High School and wanted to graduate. But "it was either jail or Japan" so off to World War II he went, his son Richard "Dickie" Howell Jr. recalled his father saying. Howell served as a sergeant in Iwo Jima for two years. He and his men patrolled for snipers and ran track for the U.S. military after the war ended. The only aspect of his military career that bugged him to the day he died on May 14 was that he lost one race to a Japanese competitor. "He loved sports and was an avid athlete. He didn't like to lose. He had to win. That was the Howell motif," Dickie Howell said.

Howell Sr. returned from Japan in 1946. Serious about education, he re-enrolled in South High in 1947 and finished his junior and senior year. He met his wife, Josephine, during a basketball game in 1949. They wed two years later and spent the next 64 years building a life together and raising four children.

Howell was from one of the few black families at the time to grow up in Elliot Park. He believed a man takes care of his family at all costs. And that is just what he did. As a newlywed, he worked for the Veterans Administration, then became a Minneapolis postal carrier. When Josephine fell ill, he carried the load, taking on two additional jobs: cabdriver at night and Pinkerton security guard on weekends.

The ever-animated and intense Howell Sr. was determined to teach his kids the value of hard work and education. He enrolled in the University of Minnesota and moved his family into student housing.

Around 1964, the Howells moved from the U to the 2500 block of Pierce Street in northeast Minneapolis. They were the only black family on the block and Dickie was the only black student in his junior high. One day, someone hurled a Molotov cocktail against the Howells' house. Others peppered the family with racist hate mail and phone calls.

The children clung to the lessons of their dad: Stay calm. Turn a deaf ear to racial slurs. Love others. And study like it matters — because it did.

Howell Sr. transferred to St. Cloud State University, commuting daily from Minneapolis until he earned his degree in education in 1969. He was the first of his five siblings to graduate from college. Soon, he accepted a position at Northwestern National Bank (now Wells Fargo) as a personal banker, recalled daughter Gail Spratt. He worked in the Powderhorn office in south Minneapolis in what was called Southside Financial Planning.

His job was to help "revitalize the area and bring awareness of financial planning practices to people wanting to get ahead," his daughter said. "He later became a popular fixture at the Lake Street office." It was the perfect job for Howell. "Our dad never met a stranger. He took an active interest in all he knew, encouraging them to travel, see the world, seek work-life balance and make sure they knew where they would spend eternity."

Still, teaching called. In the 1970s, he became a Minneapolis public schoolteacher and taught at the Laura Ingalls Wilder School on Chicago Avenue and Sanford Middle School well into his 70s. "Still today, people who knew him talked about him, and how he changed their lives," his daughter said.

Giving back came naturally. When Howell retired, he became a driver for Meals On Wheels and for Shiloh Temple Church — where son Dickie serves as bishop — and taught Sunday school.

Howell was buried Monday at Fort Snelling National Cemetery. He is survived by wife Josephine; sons Richard, Eric and Keith, and daughter Gail.