Lex Leonard Howard

Lex Leonard Howard told stories, coached young people, wrote songs and poetry, collected jokes and broken-down cars, and loved the people around him with a wide smile, a sly twinkle in his eye and open arms for nearly everyone he met.  He lived his entire life on his own terms by a code that venerated personal freedom, unrestrained emotion, creative expression and acceptance of all people. He believed that nothing was worth doing without joy, wit or service to others.

On Monday, April 14, 2025, after an extended illness, the last several months of which were fought in his long-time home, Lex left his two sons who were with him at the end and rejoined the love of his life, his wife Molly, who had preceded him in death just over a year before.

A remembrance service is planned for 4 p.m. Monday, April 21, 2025, at James Funeral Home Chapel. A visitation will follow the service.

Lex, born November 3, 1954 , in an Augusta hospital, was the third child of Leonard and Ruth Howard, then of Keysville.  His name was chosen on the way to a doctor’s appointment, plucked from a movie marquis announcing Lex Barker as Tarzan. Little did his parents know what an untamed spirit they were bringing into the world.

His sister, Donna, remembers him laughing out loud as an infant, younger than she has ever known any other baby to laugh. That sense of humor became a core part of his personality for the rest of his life.

At 12 years old, at the city pool in Wrens, Lex met a curly-haired girl, who, from that moment on would forever be in his heart and by his side. Molly was his biggest supporter, his biggest challenge, his best friend, and their love was the rock on which they built their lives.

One year later, Lex lost his 15-year-old sister, Aquila, in a tragic car accident. Her loss changed him. It introduced the concept of mortality and instilled in him a need to protect the ones he loved.

He was later proud to have been part of the first integrated classes at Wrens High School.  With tensions high and rumors of trouble or violence in the wind, he and Molly approached Dr. Gardner Hobbs, its first black principal, before the start of school and promised him they would make sure there would be no problems.

He graduated in the spring of 1973, and he and Molly were married that December.  The next few years of his life were spent enjoying friends, starting a family, and doing whatever it took to provide for that family.

Lex worked with his father on the family farm raising watermelons, pigs, snapbeans, field peas and more, and did whatever was asked without question, but he never loved it.  At 19, just married, he and Molly ran a local gas station for a short time, until they closed it one day to go fishing without notifying the owner or anyone else.

He worked for a time at a local grocery company, at Dixie Electronics with his first cousin Mark Howard, at Glit with his best friend Wylie Prescott, picked up gigs as a bouncer in bars, and trapped to sell pelts to pay the bills. But he never really enjoyed working for others and always had a desire to use the property his family owned in a different way.

In the early 1980s with a dream, a piece of land he loved, and a loan, he launched a business that he would own and operate for the rest of his life. Howard Sand Company helped build base housing for Fort Gordon, the Riverwalk in Augusta, and countless homes, schools and businesses throughout the CSRA.

On and off for many years, Lex invested in the lives of the young men of North Jefferson County by coaching youth football for the recreation department and supporting area sports through the booster club. Although he loved the game of football, it was mentoring the players that he found most rewarding.

Outside of his wife, two sons and the rest of his family, Lex’s biggest passion and source of inspiration were his many, many close friends. Whether on the sidelines, in the woods, performing with the Backroads Band or at breakfast with the Jet 17 coffee club, he was happiest sharing stories, telling jokes or roasting his buddies.

Lex was preceded in death by his wife of 50-years, Molly Parish Howard; his sister Aquila Howard; his parents; and brother-in-law Jimmy Cunningham.

His memory will forever be cherished by his surviving family: sister, Donna Cunningham; sons Parish (Amanda) Howard and Matt (Andrea) Howard; sisters-in-law Jeri “PittyPat” (Mark) Howard and Joy “Tootsie” (Billy) Belding; brothers-in-law Randy (Susan) Parish and John Huff (Janice) Parish; seven grandchildren, Trevor, Mandolyn, Hayden, Kamry, Lexie, Clementine and Evangeline; two great grandchildren Jax and Josie, who is expected to arrive in May; and numerous cousins, nieces, nephews and life-long friends.

Lex lived his life on his own terms, which can be summed up in his own words which he once spontaneously wrote on a blackboard at the world’s fair in New Orleans, “My life is a search to live close to the wind, to laugh and play like a breeze.”