Happy birthday, Daddy! I haven’t hugged you since 2019 and I miss you dearly. You will always have a special place in my heart and we’ll all get together and mark this special occasion of loving you

Prior to moving to Los Angeles in 1943 during the great migration, the family lived in Homer, Louisiana. It was there that Howard accepted Jesus as his savior and joined the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, where he remained a member until his transition. When the family moved to Los Angeles they joined Phillips Temple CME Church. Howard had many sentimental memories of Sunday School and CYF activities, where Howard would meet Constance “Connie” Joyce Haywood, whose family also moved to Los Angeles from San Antonio, Texas during the great migration. Howard and Connie would eventually marry, and divorce, and of their 32 year union would be born three children, Lyssa, Larry, and Leslie. However, it was an amicable separation, because Florence Shepherd would not have it any other way.

While in the US Air Force (USAF), Daddy relished traveling and getting to meet people from different countries and backgrounds. He was especially fond of his time in the northwestern African country of Morocco, where he was able to learn about the Qur'an and Black history.  Though he never abandoned Christianity, he expanded his research of the Muslim and Christian faiths, and embraced his African roots with enthusiasm. He has so many different versions of the bible and so many scholarly African American and African history books at home.  I’m sure anyone of you can remember a book about the first Black US Presidents with an "s," because he gave away several copies. He made sure that his family, the kids in Centerview, Phillips Temple and any other young people he encountered were keenly aware of author Lerone Bennette’s “Before the Mayflower” and many other prolific writers on Black history in America. It was because of his time in the USAF that Howard’s world view grew.

In Los Angeles, Howard attended LAUSD public schools:

• Main Street ES for Kindergarten (1943); 
• Twenty-Eighth Street ES grades A4 to B5 (1948-1949); 
• George Washington Carver Jr. High School grades A7 to A9 (March 1951 to June 1953); 
• and proudly graduated from Thomas Jefferson Senior High School class of 1956, June 15. 
• He later attended LA Harbor College.

Because of Howard’s military experience he joined Pacific Bell as an installer, then was promoted to a main-frame operator, where he was a proud member of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) labor union as shop steward.  However, he felt there were times when the Black Employees, during the tumultuous times in the 60’s and early 70’s, were not receiving the same treatment from CWA as their caucasian peers. So Dad and a number of other Black telco employees started their own Black Union within CWA.  The Black union was eventually disbanded as each of the charter members were subsequently promoted to management positions. However, ethnic subcommittees within CWA, and other labor unions, continue to flourish.