Edgar Neal Howard of Houston passed into the next life to be with his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on December 27, 2018 at the age of 92. Ed was born in Biardstown, Texas on January 26, 1926 to Gaither and Nita (Kennemer) Howard. He was preceded in death by his parents, brothers Travis and John and his sister Melba. Delores, his wife of 64 years, passed away in April and he missed her deeply.
He is survived by his children: Candice Bocock and her husband Rick of Austin, Neal Howard and his wife Peggy of Katy; grandchildren Ryan Bocock (Dana) of Austin, Philip Bocock (Traci) of Houston, Lauren Bocock Overzet (Nelson) of Fort Worth, Kara Bocock Kim (Andrew) of Fate, Texas, Grace Howard of Houston, Ned Howard of Greenville, Texas, Amy Claire Howard of Midland, Texas and Hank Howard of College Station; and great-grandchildren Kayla, Rachel and Jessica Bocock of Austin; Isaiah, Edward, Richard, Ava, Gregory and Catherine Bocock of Houston; Zeb and Theo Overzet of Fort Worth. Ed is also survived by his brother Kenneth and wife Sue of Albuquerque.
Ed grew up in the cotton fields in south Lamar County and graduated from Paris High School, Paris Junior College and the University of Texas where he obtained his BBA, with Honors. He was a CPA and worked for Peat Marwick Mitchell and served in the Army in Korea during the Conflict. Fortunately, he returned to Houston in time for Father’s Day 1953 when he met his future wife at a work colleague’s home. He joined Transwestern Pipeline Company as Treasurer and then Texas Eastern Transmission Corporation where he retired as General Manager of Administration and had the privilege of recruiting many fine men and women into the company. Ed served on the Accounting Advisory Council of the UT College of Business Administration for many years. His two accounting philosophies were “Put ‘em down right, add ‘em up right, they’ll come out right” and “It beats picking cotton.”
Ed and Delores were charter members of St. Martin’s Lutheran Church in Sharpstown where he was baptized in 1957 and then moved to the Wilchester area in 1966 and were active members of Memorial Drive Lutheran Church for over 50 years. Ed served faithfully on the Church Council and as Treasurer for many of those years. He managed or coached youth baseball teams in the Spring Branch area for nine years. His baseball philosophy was don’t walk anyone and if you got on base, just keep running.
Ed enjoyed sharing the things that he loved with the people that he loved. He took Delores fishing at a South Texas lodge and always brought back loads of speckled trout and redfish, and shrimp as well. They would travel to the Cayman Islands, Hawaii, or go on cruises. Delores took up golf when Ed retired provided that he would take dance lessons. The golf stuck. He was a long-time Astros fan and was thrilled to acquire tickets to the first World Series game in Houston in 2005 and then have Neal take Delores because of his difficulty in climbing the stairs.
Ed was the perfect Granddad. He loved having the grandchildren to his home one at a time so that they could be appropriately spoiled. He frequently could be spotted on the zoo train at Hermann Park, Astros games, golf outings, fishing trips, weeklong family trips to Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels and beach trips to Galveston. He claimed that he never met a dessert that he did not like, and most events were topped off by something with ice cream.
A celebration of his life will be held on December 30, 2018 at 2:00 pm at Memorial Oaks Funeral Home and Cemetery at 13001 Katy Freeway, Houston, Texas, 77079 with a graveside service and reception to follow.
Donations in honor of Ed may be made to Memorial Drive Lutheran Church in Houston, Texas.
