Born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1929, the daughter of Edwin Lee White of
Clay Hill and Ginette Delacarte White of Albi, France, Joan Cotty White grew
up spending summers roaming the fields and forests at Clay Hill Farm, the
ancestral home of her grandparents, Dr. and Mrs. James Sanders White. She
was educated at Kentucky Home School, Hollins College, the University of
Alabama, and was graduated from Agnes Scott College in 1951.
A kindergarten teacher before her marriage in 1954 to George W. Howell,
lawyer of Birmingham, Alabama, Mrs. Howell was active in the Presbyterian
Church and in civic and cultural organizations in Birmingham and in
Pascagoula, Mississippi, while raising children, Jeffrey Page Howell and
Jennifer Margaret Howell.
A devoted wife, loving mother and faithful friend, Joan White Howell loved
all of God’s creation and throughout her adult life was deeply committed to
responsible earth stewardship. Despite a debilitating terminal illness
discovered in the 1980’s, she continued a positive and useful life,
returning frequently to Clay Hill for respite and to care for the land and
forest until her death in 1993. She was honored by the Kentucky Division of
Forestry for her forest management practices.
Almighty God, give
us due reverence for your
Creation,
and bless us with wisdom and will to
preserve
“this fragile Earth, our island home".
