Leland Carl Howlett was born on February 26, 1943, in Salt Lake City, Utah. He lived in Draper, Utah. He moved on to his next adventure on May 15, 2024.
His parents were Augustus (Gus) Howlett and. Alice Tunbridge Howlett. Both parents and his only brother, Eldon Howlett, preceded him in death. Carl and his younger brother Eldon grew up in a large Howlett family of cousins. He loved being around his cousins and hiked with many of them all over the Draper Mountains. Hiking was one of his fondest meditative experiences, as he hiked nearly every trail in the Logan Canyon. His grandsons, Dr. Peter Griffin and Dr. Greg Griffin, later hiked those same trails with him, and both taught a class on hiking while pre-med students at Utah State University. Carl often said that hiking was when his great ideas were formed and many problems were solved.
The family were chicken farmers, and the boys learned important and lasting lessons in business. The value of hard work and responsibility was instilled in Carl and Eldon at an early age. His mother taught Carl to cook, and he passed that talent down to his children. He loved to make bread, pies, and chicken soup with dumplings.
He married Gwenda Faye Atkinson at the Salt Lake Temple on June 22, 1962.
They had three children, Michelle Griffin and husband DeVon Griffin Medina, Ohio, Leland Howlett and wife Tanya Howlett of Churchill, Tennessee, and Warren Howlett and wife Julie Howlett of Ft Collins, Colorado. Carl took great pride and joy in his nine grandchildren: Peter Griffin, Gregory Griffin, Elise Walker, Justin Howlett, Robert Howlett, Vanessa Butler, Tanner Howlett, Corrinne Howlett, and Spencer Howlett. Carl also has 12 great-grandchildren. He was so proud of each one’s accomplishments.
Carl, as he was known to all, graduated from the University of Utah with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and a Master Degree in Electrical Engineering. He was a member of the Engineering faculty and was a researcher and educator at the Space Dynamics Laboratory at Utah State University. His years were spent traveling to many countries as an engineer and rocket scientist. He spent time in Russia, Japan, Alaska, and Norway.
His passion was building and flying airplanes. His final project was a LancAir, which was his pride and joy. He designed and built his home based on the principles he preached to anyone who would ask. Proper insulation and environmentally friendly attention to saving our planet was his goal. He designed and built a solar system to provide reduction or elimination of the effects of carbon-rich fuels on the environment to a sounder renewable energy model. His final house project was an environmental model for future buildings.
In later life, he met and married Barbara Ann Neumann Nelson of Las Vegas, Nevada, on December 15, 2012. He inherited an additional loving family of Barbara’s sons, Donald Keith Grable and wife Lucrita (Keya) Wooley and Dwayne Riley Nelson and wife Rosalba Villarreal, four grandchildren (Marion Grable Liberatore, Jordan Chadwick Grable, and Layla Nelson of Las Vegas, Nevada, and Toni Yeomans of Sarasota, Florida), and five great-grandchildren.
Carl and Barbara spent the last eleven years of his life in Idaho, putting the finishing touches on the house and landscaping the property. He taught Barbara to get on the Mahindra tractor and operate all sorts of machinery to build the solar system together.
Carl and his family are so grateful to the Hands of Hope Hospice for their tender and loving care. Carl and Barbara are also so grateful to their neighbors, Susan and Blain Jackson, for being their “angels” throughout these past difficult months.
Carl's Celebration of Life services will be held at 11:00 am MST, Saturday, May 25, 2024, at the Franklin County Funeral Home, 56 S State St in Preston, Idaho 83263. For those unable to attend in person, there will be a live streaming feed of the service. You may access it by following this link
View Services HereIn lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate donations to either the Prostate Cancer Foundation, 1250 Fourth Street, Santa Monica, CA 90401, or The Las Vegas Center for Spiritual Living, 4325 N Rancho Dr #110 Las Vegas, Nevada 89130
