Written by Larry Howell
After high school graduation I attended Sul Ross in Alpine, TX. In January of my freshman year (’60) I went home at midterm and married classmate, Dorothy “Dottie” Landwermeyer. We
moved back to Sul Ross and I finished out the year while she went to high school. We left Alpine and returned to Midland where I began my working relationship with Mid West Electric.
In May of ’61 we were blessed with a daughter, Lori Kathleen, who is now a teacher in the Arlington ISD. She is married to Jimmy Pitstick (23yrs) and they gave us 3 beautiful children, Price 20, Paige 16 & Pierce 13 (notice PP’s). Then, in May of ’63 we were blessed with a son, Patrick Allen, who lives in Mansfield, TX and is an electrical contractor. He is married to Karla Batchelor (22 yrs) and they have two wonderful daughters, Jessica 24 and Bailey 10. Jess has blessed her grandparents with one sweet little boy, Dylan born 9/11/07, who adores his Nana & Papaw. He is due to have a little sister in July. Our kids, gkids & ggkids are the joy of our lives. We also endure the occasional harassment from brother-in-law, Bob Clark.
Well, we stayed in Midland until December of ’69 and then I transferred to Arlington with Statewide Electric which was started by Mid West. When that closed I went to work for myself as an electrical contractor (Woo Hoo) and then began building houses with Dottie’s cousin. By ’76 I was out of the house building business and back into the electrical field again where I stayed with Fox Electric in Arlington till 1984, when I enrolled in seminary. After attending Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and following the reopening of my electric shop (son Patrick runs the business now), I revisited Fox until health problems muddied the waters for several years until in ’05 when I retired. I do have a growing electrical estimating business at home and Dottie and I do part time work at First Baptist Arlington. I graduated from B H Carroll Theological Institute in 2005 (#1 in the class).
In ’79 Dottie and I purchased a house built 1908 located in downtown Arlington and began a 2 ½ year restoration. Since we did most of the work ourselves we spent many a night and weekend bringing it back to its former state, and the home is designated as a Historical residence in the US Historical records. In 1996 we built a small house in our backyard. My mom lived in our back yard (LOL) until she passed away in 2001.
For those Cowboy fans we are about 6 blocks from the new stadium! We are located in the Historical and entertainment District of Arlington.
Merpher /Tickles/Larry Howell
Larry great story and thank you for saving lives with your religious passion. We see more of that dedication from several Water Drinkers including my self. Please feel free to write more. John McElligott.