Lt. Col. Howard T. Rowell, US Air Force (Ret.) Obituary

Lt. Col. Howard Tobias Rowell, 93, of Columbia, was called home to the Lord on June 5, 2022. Howard was born, February 13, 1929, in Georgetown, S.C. the son of the late Tobias Rowell and Lillie Mae Broome Rowell. Howard spent much of his childhood in Charleston and Great Falls, S.C. He joined the U.S. Marine Corps at age 17 in 1946, graduating from boot camp at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island followed by Sea School at Marine Corps Base–San Diego before shipping aboard the cruiser USS Manchester as a member of the ship’s Marine Detachment. Following, sea duty, including multiple ports-of-call in Europe and the Middle East, he served a stint at Marine Barracks–Philadelphia Navy Yard. Following his honorable discharge from the Marines, Howard entered the University of South Carolina and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism. He was then commissioned into the U.S. Air Force Reserve (USAFR), serving in a variety of posts including service as a security officer at North (S.C.) Air Force Auxiliary Airfield and as a Reserve liaison officer to the U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado, which he always remembered as his “favorite post.” He retired from the USAFR at the rank of lieutenant colonel in 1973. In addition to his military service, Howard was an accomplished businessman and the founding president of Acta-Fax Business Machines in Columbia and Charleston. As president of Acta-Fax, Howard oversaw the construction of the Acta-Fax headquarters buildings and warehouse, which today house the Benedict College Football offices and Tiger football weight-training facilities in Columbia. A fiercely competitive lifelong athlete, Howard was a boxing champion who fought in the Golden Gloves, in the Marine Corps (fighting both Navy and Marine pugilists as well as foreign amateur and semi-professional fighters in ports around the world), as an intramural fighter at USC, and for a brief period as a boxing instructor in the USAFR. He regularly worked out at local gyms, jumped rope like a 20-year-old into his late 70s, trained family and friends to box and hit the speed bag and the heavy bag, and as a ping-pong enthusiast he was affectionately known as “the Forrest Gump of the Columbia downtown YMCA.” Howard was generous with his time, resources, and service to others. He served as president of the Columbia ‘Golden K’ Kiwanis Club and was an active member of the club for many years. He was a past-president of the Cardinal Newman High School Booster Club and he was instrumental in helping raise funds to build the school’s first gymnasium (five of his seven children graduated from Cardinal Newman). Howard was also an active member of the Columbia Executives’ Club. He was a former member of Saint Joseph’s Catholic Church. He was a former member and an ordained elder at Forest Lake Presbyterian Church. And in the final years of his life, he was a member of Columbia’s Northeast Presbyterian Church. Howard loved traveling, and he and his devoted wife Tita traveled around the world, enjoying a number of cruises. They also enjoyed dancing, live music especially big band and swing, good movies, good food, family gatherings, and attending church. A man with a seemingly endless number of friends and a great sense of humor, Howard loved to tell stories and he often quipped that when he enlisted in the Marines at the earliest possible age at the end of World War II, “The Japanese heard that I was joining up, so they quit!” Howard was a passionate Gamecock fan, any sport, but especially football and men’s and women’s basketball. He also loved animals of all kinds – dogs and cats which came to visit, exotic animals on TV, and birds singing outside of his windows. Howard loved the Lord, and he was always eager to pray with others. He prayed regularly until his memory began to fail him at which time he asked others to pray for him, share with him stories from Scripture, and talk to him about the things of God. Howard is survived by his wife Alba “Tita” Smith Rowell, and he is predeceased by his first wife Francis Marie Hopkins Rowell and his second wife Rosalie Seets Rowell. His surviving children are Technical Sgt. (Ret.) James Tobias Rowell (June), Faye Rowell Horne (Bennie), Sharon Rowell Shreve, Edward L. Rowell (Debbie), and Charles H. Rowell. He is predeceased by his children Sylvia Rowell Nye and Sandra Kaye Rowell. Howard had seven grandchildren – Kimberly Shealy, Technical Sgt. (Ret.) James Travis Rowell, Matthew E. Rowell, Jacob L. Rowell, Walker Paul Shreve, Krystal Nye, Apryl Nye – and 10 great grandchildren. Howard’s surviving stepchildren are Col. (Ret.) W. Thomas Smith Jr., Annette Smith Fowler, James D. Smith, two step-grandchildren – Michael Paul Fowler (January) and Capt. William Maxwell Fowler, M.D. (Alexis) – and two great step-granddaughters. He also had stepchildren from the Seets family. The funeral service for Howard will be held at 11 o’clock, Monday, June 20th at Northeast Presbyterian Church, with burial at St. Patrick’s Cemetery. The family will receive visitors in the church atrium prior to the service. Following interment at St. Patrick’s, a celebration of Howard’s life will be held at his home in northeast Columbia. Pallbearers will be grandsons Travis Rowell, Jacob Rowell, Matthew Rowell, Walker Shreve, and step-grandsons Michael Fowler and Max Fowler. Members of the 'Golden K' Kiwanis Club will serve as honorary pallbearers. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to either Northeast Presbyterian Church, 601 Polo Road, Columbia, S.C., 29223 or the ‘Golden K’ Kiwanis Club, in memory of Howard T. Rowell. Shives Funeral Home, Trenholm Road Chapel, is assisting the family.

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Lt. Col. Howard T. Rowell, US Air Force (Ret.)

February 13, 1929 - June 5, 2022