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Roger Leon Howard, Sr., was born on September 11, 1925, in Ocoee, Tennessee, to the late Edward Leon Howard and Jessie Martin Howard, who raised him to be the kind, honest, and hard-working man he was known to be throughout his life. After graduating from high school, where he was quarterback of the football team and voted “most popular” in his graduating class, Roger left home at the age of 17 to enlist in the Navy. He served in World War II on the USS Damon M Cummings from 1943-1946, an experience that would give him ample material for stories that would become favorites for his children and grandchildren in years to come. After his military service, Roger attended the University of Georgia where he received a BA in Business. After a year of law school, Roger traveled to Alaska with some friends, stopping in Ft. Worth, Texas, to work at an airplane factory. There he met Nora Elizabeth Hanson, of Corsicana, Texas, whom he married on December 22, 1950. He chose well, as Nora would be an able and beautiful partner in raising children, weathering hardship, celebrating good seasons, and rejoicing in grandchildren and great-grandchildren in the many years to come.
Roger’s business career started as an insurance claims adjuster for Liberty Mutual in Houston, Texas. In 1951 Roger & Nora joined his dad’s timber business, along with his brother Roy and his family, on an adventure in the Everglades. They met up with Mr. Howard who had rented a train to travel with crew members and saw mill equipment to the swamplands. For a year, the couple and the rest of the workers lived in an old army barracks, working amongst panthers and other wild animals, harvesting and cutting cypress wood. Roger loved a good adventure. Soon after, Roger became a salesman for Morton Salt in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and later co-founded ShopRite supermarkets and operated Allied Grocers. He and Nora later owned and operated Love That Store in Trenton, Georgia.
Roger was also a member of the Civil Air Patrol, a bee keeper, an avid reader, an able fisherman, and in his family’s eyes, able to complete any task, solve any problem, and answer any question. He was a loyal friend who saw the good in the situation at hand, who offered help to those less fortunate, who loved his wife, children, and grandchildren well. Roger was a rock and role model for many, living simply and powerfully as an unpretentious example of hard work, perseverance, hope, honesty, and faithfulness.
Roger is survived by his wife, Nora, and four children: Karen Howard, of Chattanooga, Tennessee; Marianne (and Paul) Peterson of Macon, Georgia; Chuck Howard, of LaFayette, Georgia; and Betsy (and Glenn) Cooper of Cumming, Georgia. Roger is also survived by five grandchildren: Lindsay (and Frank) Acocella; Jack (and Amy) Peterson; Hannah (and Luke) Reimer; Candice (and Alex) Posey; and Will (and Beth Ann) Cooper; and twelve great-grandchildren, Anthony, Gianna, Eva, and Rocco Acocella; Rosie and Owen Peterson; John and Shep Reimer; Weston and Lila Posey; and Collier and Camp Cooper; and sister, Mary Alice Thomas of LaFayette, Georgia.
Visitation will be 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. Sunday, March 19 at Wallis-Wilbanks Funeral Home in LaFayette, Georgia. Funeral Services will be 12:30 p.m. Monday, March 20 at Chattanooga National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, take a friend to lunch.
