James Thomas Howard

Mr. James Thomas Howard, age 82 of Hopewell, VA entered eternal rest on Wednesday, January 3, 2024. It is with great sadness that the family of James Thomas Howard (“Jim”) announces his passing on Wednesday January 3, 2024. He was 82 years old.

Jim was born in Anne Arundel County, Maryland to the late Thomas V. Howard and Ruth E. Ogle. He graduated from Fairmont Heights High School and attended Bowie State College, Maryland’s oldest Historically Black College/University (HBCU) where he received his Bachelor’s Degree in Liberal Arts in 1964. Later that year, he enlisted in the U.S. Army, where he served as a Paratrooper and Military Police Officer for the 8th Infantry Division. He received the Army’s Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Parachutist Badge, and Expert Rifle Badge before his Honorable Discharge in 1970.

After his military service, Jim used his many talents and gifts to work as an educator, magazine publisher, restaurateur, entrepreneur, and business owner. He also possessed a creative side, which he expressed as a painter, sculptor, and poet. To hear him tell it, he might have been a lost member of The Temptations, and given the right circumstances was happy to provide a demonstration of that skillset.

He was preceded in death by his loving and devoted wife of seventeen years, Sylvia Brooks Howard; his brother, Robert S. Howard, Sr.; and stepbrother, Edward T. Watson, Jr. He leaves to cherish his memory two daughters, Terri Jordan of Farmville, Virginia, and Tracey (James) Livesay of Stafford, Virginia; two sons, Edworth Brooks, Jr. and Jonathan Brooks of Farmville, Virginia; one step son, Roger Turner of Los Angeles, California; twelve grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, one sister, Myra Howard of Farmville, Virginia; one brother, Samuel Howard of Capitol Heights, Maryland; a former spouse, Elsie Turner Howard (mother of Tracey); and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and other relatives and friends.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of James Thomas Howard, please visit our floral store.