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Johnnie Howell has a reputation for service

By Sarah A. Wise

NL Staff Writer

26 July 2007 — Johnnie Howell has been an active member of the Pikeville community his entire life, from his childhood as the son of a Nahunta farmer to his ownership of a successful insurance company. Recently, the Pikeville Lions Club honored the contributions Johnnie made to the community by awarding him the title of Mr. Pikeville at the annual Independence Day celebration.

When Mayor Herb Sieger presented the award to Johnnie, he highlighted the many accomplishments of Johnnie's life, but said that one element always stood out to him about Johnnie—his faith.

“I remember the first time I went into his office, I saw a handmade sign that told me everything I needed to know about him,” he said. The plaque, he recalled, said that serving the Lord doesn’t pay much, but the rewards are out of this world.

“He’s always been very strong in his faith,” said Johnnie’s son Jay.

Johnnie was a founding member of Living Waters Free Will Baptist Church in Pikeville. He also helped found the Sender’s Fellowship, which supports missionaries spreading the Gospel around the world.

Many in the Pikeville area know Johnnie through the weekly prayer breakfast, held at Buck’s Restaurant in Pikeville. He was one of the founding members of the group, and attended the meetings faithfully until his health made it too difficult to go.

Johnnie has shown a lifelong commitment to the Nahunta community and the town of Pikeville, through his efforts to establish and maintain the fire department, along with his involvement in many local organizations.

Johnnie was born the third of six children on the family farm in Nahunta. He grew up working there, and as a youngster saw farming as his calling as well. But the advent of World War II changed Johnnie's life, taking him out of his home community to fight abroad.

For a few years during the war, Johnnie continued to work on the family farm while his older brother went to fight. But Johnnie was eventually drafted, and went overseas as a soldier.

While in Europe, Johnnie was a member of the 69^th Infantry, General Patton’s army unit. Jay said that Johnnie and his fellow soldiers were called the “Fighting 69^th.”

Johnnie served in Europe until the war was over; he even spent his 21^st birthday in Germany. He served through the end of the war, when he and his brother returned to Pikeville.

While some soldiers embarked on new lives when they returned, Johnnie had a responsibility to pick up where he left off and continue working on the farm.

“When they came back, it was spring, and their father was unable to work the farm anymore,” said Jay.

 So Johnnie and his brother went straight to work, clearing the fields of crops that hadn’t been harvested and preparing the land for a new crop.

For the next few years, Johnnie continued working on the farm during crop seasons. During the winter, he also worked at a tobacco warehouse.

But in 1961, Johnnie branched out and started his own business, which became the Pikeville Insurance Company. In the beginning, he took on few clients and worked out of his home. After a couple of years, he moved the business to an office on Main Street in downtown Pikeville before moving to the current Railroad Street office.

Along with establishing a strong professional reputation for himself in Pikeville, Johnnie has devoted much of his spare time to various civic organizations.

He has been a member of the Pikeville Lions Club “ever since there was a Lions Club,” he said. Johnnie is also a member of the Nahunta Grange, a farm family fraternal organization.

While he was a founding member of Living Waters and Sender’s Fellowship, Johnnie was also an instrumental part in the founding of the Nahunta Volunteer Fire Department. Though he was never a firefighter himself, Jay says, Johnnie devoted his efforts to helping establish community support for the volunteer department.

Johnnie was married to the former Mary Alice Stevens from the Grantham Community; she passed away in 1992. He has two children, Jay and Treva, and two granddaughters, Trudi Rast and Paige Howell, who still live in the area and teach at Princeton School.

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