HOWARD, David Robert – (1950 – 2018) – IF YOU CAN’T HAVE FUN, WHY BOTHER?
David Robert Howard, beloved husband, father, recent first-time grandfather, cat dad, chaser of trains and connoisseur of rum and of the musical stylings of the divas, departed this mortal coil on May 24, 2018, having packed as much life, love, friendship, trains and music into his 67 years as humanly possible.
Arriving too late for Christmas, but too early to be a New Year’s Baby, David was born December 28, 1950 in Hamilton, Ontario. Technically gifted, he attended Mohawk College and was hired right out of school to fix and maintain the industrial computer systems that keep your lights and power on and keep all our families warm. He would stay with the same company, in various iterations, until his retirement in 2015.
In 1973, David met the love of his life, Marlene, at Attila’s Cave in Toronto. He attributed his extreme good fortune to his 1967 Impala convertible, but his charm and wit may have had something to do with it as well. They dated until she asked him to marry her (!) and, to no one’s surprise, he said yes. (Hey, it was the ‘70s.)
Married in 1975, David and Marlene were blessed with three beautiful children, Karen (Chris), Bryan (Yulia) and Sandra (Steve). David considered his happy marriage and children to be his greatest accomplishment (although landing his shot of a GP-7 #75 locomotive on the cover of the April 2015 TH&B Ontarian was a close second).
On March 28, 2018, Bryan and Yulia welcomed Ryan Leo David Howard into the world, and David was ecstatic to meet young Ryan. Ryan was somewhat less talkative than his Grandpa. However, if Ryan takes after his father and two aunts, this will change shortly.
David was a pillar of the Canadian Railway Historical Association – Niagara Division, where he was known as “The Captain”, due to his innate leadership qualities and love of Captain Morgan rum. With his CRHA mates, he crisscrossed North America, preserving images (and images, and images) of North American railway history. We know. We have 200,000 slides to prove it. Through the CRHA and his other Pentax-related interests, David made many friends over the years who will remember him for his volubility, enthusiasm and zest for life.
There will be a celebration of David’s life at a later date. There will be no funeral service. David would not have wanted you to be sad – better you should get together, hoist a few rum & cokes and toast the Captain. Shed a few tears if it helps, but remember to laugh too. As David always said, “If you can’t have fun, why bother?”
Arrangements entrusted to BayGardens Funeral Home, 1010 Botanical Drive, Burlington, Ontario. For those who wish, donations to The Joseph Brant Hospital Foundation would be appreciated.
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