Charles Howard, 1942-2024
Charles Albert Howard was born in Wichita, Kansas, the son of Donald Jean “Donnie” MacDonald and Myrel Albert Howard on May 3, 1942. He passed away on July 6, 2024.
Marilynn, Charlie’s wife, tells us that he wrote the following bio in our family tree many years ago.
The effort in compiling this family history always seems like dessert. The wonderful combination of art and technology is why I became an architect and a sailboat racer. Being born in Kansas, in hindsight, had its advantages. I worked on a farm and I understand what it takes to produce our food, seeing the very basic nature of the wealth that our central farmlands represents to our nation. The future of the world relies on our understanding the extremely valuable nature of this resource.
I attended Wichita High School East and graduated in 1960. I played on the football, track and gymnastics teams for three years. I was fortunate to achieve a first place in floor exercise at the state meet in 1960. I was awarded an honorable mention in the Ford Foundation Industrial Arts Awards for my plans for a circular house. Today, I do not think that I did very well on the project. I have come to understand the delightful nature of using space as a functional art form.
I worked for an architectural firm during the summer of 1960 before college. The small firm allowed me to be involved in many phases of the work that summer. I studied architecture at Kansas State University from 1960-1963. I transferred to the University of Oregon in the fall of 1963 and graduated with a professional degree in architecture in 1966.
I served in the Peace Corps from the summer of 1966-1968 in Turkey with a community development group called Turkey-X (ten). I trained during the summer of 1965 in Portland, Oregon. I worked at two assignments during my service. First, I lived in a small village at the edge of the Anatolian plateau called Avshar. After 13 months and one chicken house later, I became attached to the Aegean School of Architecture in Izmir.
I traveled in Europe after my Peace Corps service and went to live with my parents in Gardena, CA. I was working for Gruen Associates when I met Marilynn Stone in February 1969. I asked her to marry me. She said “no.” I persisted and she said “yes” with several conditions. I have met all but one to date. They were 1) We would not always live in California; 2) We would travel in Europe; 3) We would visit the pyramids of Egypt (completed in March 2019).
We were married in September,1969 and moved to Eugene, Oregon in 1970. We toured Europe in 1975. We traveled extensively in the USA. In 1976, I opened my own architectural office in Eugene. We started the Oregon Sailing Center as a retail business in 1977. Our daughter, Tara, was born in 1978.
In 1984, I was offered a position as the Director of Design in a medium sized firm in Glendale, California. We moved to La Canada, CA. I discovered that living in La Canada was the fulfillment of a youthful dream I had about living on “Belmont Street” or “Eastborough” in Wichita. This was where the big houses in town were located. I always wished that we could live in those big places.
From Charlie’s wife Marilynn: This photo was taken off the coast of California when he helped a friend sail from Canada to Ventura. He always wanted to sail the entire west coast from Vancouver to Baja and until about 6 years ago he had sailed all but a small part between Oxnard and Los Angeles! We finally did that and he was so happy. Part of his ashes were scattered off of Oxnard where he sailed for many years with friends and family.
The final portion will be buried with his parents in Mulvane Cemetery on his 83rd birthday, May 3, 2025. A small gathering will be held in Mulvane before the burial. The Howard Drug Store was not “our” Howard family in the area, but we had so much fun when we saw this on our last visit in 2022 for the HS reunion in Wichita. This is where the family will gather before the funeral. 
It was fortunate for all of our Class of 1960 that Charles joined our Zoom calls late in his life! RIP
I have always loved architecture and tried to attend the architecture lecture for Career Day at East. I happily walked into a room full of males only to be told to go elsewhere “because women cannot be architects” and with a smile the visiting speaker added that “no man will work for a woman.”
I retreated to the stair case in the south-west corner of East and sat down. I did not want to go to any other “girl” classes, so I sat there steaming for the hour and thought about Olive Ann Beech and my mother who helped run my father’s airplane parts machine shop.
Reading about Charles, I was impressed that he traveled a lot and knew the architecture of the middle East. I appreciated that he understood the art history of his field and also experienced the Peace Corps. I am happy that he was able to blend an interest in the art of building and witnessed early materials and traditions of structures in Turkey. Seeing the pyramids in Egypt was a course in itself. His was a life well lived.