Page 5 - 2016Bella.June

inspired a burst of creativity to help her cope with the unexpected challenges she faced.
“I wrote a poem about it, all of it — about how you have to perse- vere,” she said.
Leaning on her faith and knowing that she had a purpose to maintain, Howell took a job as a teller at the former First National Bank.
She moved on to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences-Ar-
ea Health Education Center South Arkansas, where she served in several capacities over 19 years, including receptionist, financial advisor, assistant nursing director and continuing medical education coordinator.
Howell then enrolled as a non-traditional
student at SouthArk, squeezing in general
education classes during lunch breaks and at
night while holding down her full-time job at AHEC.
With an associate’s degree in hand, she advanced toward a bach- elor of science degree in sociology at Southern Arkansas Univer- sity in Magnolia.
“I was still working full time. It was really a struggle. I took as many night classes as I possibly could and some online courses,” Howell said. “Driving back and forth from Magnolia to El Dora- do and back to Magnolia — it was hard, but I accomplished it.”
In 2008, she climbed higher up the educational ladder by earn- ing an executive master’s of public administration degree from SAU.
A year prior to that, she had come to work at SouthArk as the career advisor for the health sciences program and in 2013, she was named director of Upward Bound.
‘You’ve got to sacrifice’
Howell met Lynwood Howell while she was still working at UAMS-AHEC and he and his mother were patients there.
The pair dated for six years before getting married in 2003.
Lynwood worked as a firefighter for the Magnolia Fire De- partment. Upon retirement, he took on another full-time job as a restauranteur, opening up Howell’s BBQ, which does robust business from its location at 2011 Junction City Road.
Howell said the venture started out as an attempt to re-open a popular BBQ spot in Waldo, but when the deal fell through, her husband scouted out locations in El Dorado.
She said she helps out in the restaurant when she can, penciling in time each day during her lunch breaks and after work at
SouthArk.
“I smell like BBQ. I was over there working at lunch. I put on five gallons of sauce before I left,” she laughed,
adding that her husband meticulously prepares all of the meats that custom- ers consume daily at the restaurant.
The causal mentioning of how she spent her lunch hour is a testa- ment to a tireless work ethic
that was established long be- fore her first job at Woolco.
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Recognition and Awards Ceremony
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“My stepfather would not allow us to work outside the home
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Howell attempts to drive home that point with her Upward Bound students, drawing from chapters of her own life to help steer them in the right direction.
“That’s why I like this program, working with children. I would sometimes stay up all night, not going to bed and doing home- work,” she said. “I tell them you’ve got to sacrifice until you get where you want to be, and while you’re still home with your parents, get your education before you have the responsibilities of a household.”
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before we graduated from high school, but never in my life have I been bored. I’m always busy with work, work, work,” she said.
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BELLA – June 2016 – 5
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