Howell Erwin Lindsay

May 30, 1962 — February 21, 2024

Phoenix

Howell Lindsay, passed peacefully on February 21, 2024 with his family by his side following a short courageous battle with cancer.

Howell was born in Gadsden, AL on May 30, 1962. He lived there with his mother, Nancy and father, Rev. Marshall Lindsay. They moved from Alabama in 1965 to California and moved to Arizona in 1967. He lived in Eloy, Tucson, and Tempe, due to his father's ministry assignments with the United Methodist Church.

Howell was very involved with the church’s youth groups; he enjoyed watching and playing all sports and played baseball in grade school and high school. He excelled in school and was always an exceptional student and he went onto college right after graduating from Tempe High School in 1980.

He attended Claremont College in California with a full scholarship. He was a Residential Assistant for several years at the college and received the Jack L. Stark Society recognition award for 2 consecutive years for his outstanding support. Howell graduated in 1984 with a Bachelor's degree in Public Law. During his time in college; Howell was in the student foreign exchange program where he had the opportunity to live in and explore Europe. He traveled to many places while there and absorbed all its history. Howell had a passion for history and philosophy and loved to read. He was quite the bookworm; reading, collecting, and owning a large library of books on philosophy, strategic thinking, finance, war history, and many others.

After graduation; he stayed in California for several years, and after working at Broadway Southwest as a Buyer; he decided to return and started to Arizona and worked for the Department of Economic Security for the Division of Business & Finance from 1991 to 2005 holding various financial positions.

In 1993 met his future wife there, Margaret (they worked in the same building). Margaret had two daughters, Selena and Andrea and Howell made sure to include them on their dates every other week, to get to know them better. They went to the movies, dinner, hiking, etc. and after 3 1/2 years of dating, they married in 1997.

In 1998, Howell and Margaret had a daughter, Danielle. He was so excited to become a father. He enjoyed his time with Danielle, reading to her and playing “tea party”, and going on family vacations, road trips, hiking and camping and being involved at her school events. Howell became a grandfather of 4 by way of Margaret’s oldest daughter, Selena. He just loved to hang out and play with them, especially the “little ones” because he could let loose of his inner child and the kids just loved that about their Grandpa Howell.

Howell retired from state government in 2005 and started to work at the City of Peoria as a Senior Budget Coordinator until 2019. He really enjoyed working there especially with the good friends he made while there. From 2019 to 2020, he worked at the City of Tucson as an Executive Management Advisor. From April of 2019 to present; he worked at the City of Avondale as a Senior Management Analyst.

Howell enjoyed playing his electric guitar and was an enthusiast for music; especially the blues, and Rock and Roll (the Stones and the Beatles). He loved to work on projects using his wood saw and loved his swimming pool. He also became a master at grilling and using his smoker and always offered to make delicious meals at family gatherings, which everyone enjoyed. Howell was always busy working on something or the other around the house or for someone else. He really enjoyed talking to people, one - on - one. He was very present with everyone he talked with and was genuinely interested in knowing what was going on in their lives.

Howell was a caring, kind, playful and intelligent person, and he will be greatly missed by his family, and many others who knew and loved him. He will forever be in our hearts and will always be Margaret’s “querido”.

Howell is survived by his wife of 27 years, Margaret and his daughter Danielle, his daughters by marriage; Selena (Richard) and Andrea; and grandchildren Taavi, Aeneas, Zane and Talia.

He is also survived by his sister Leigh Ann Brecheisen (TJ), Hayden (niece) and Lane (nephew) Brecheisen. Howell is preceded in death by his parents Nancy and Rev. Marshall Lindsay, Cole Brecheisen (nephew) and his brother George.

A celebration of Howell’s life will be held on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 at Paradise Valley United Methodist Church, 4455 E. Lincoln Dr., Paradise Valley,

In lieu of flowers, Howell suggests donations be made to Arizona Women’s Recovery Center at https://azwomensrecoverycenter.org/donate.

This service will be live streamed (AZ local time), by visiting pvumc.org, scroll down and click on “Watch Live”.

To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Howell Erwin Lindsay, please visit our flower store.

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Service Schedule

Past Services

Funeral Service

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

11:00am - 12:00 pm (Mountain (no DST) time)

Paradise Valley United Methodist Church

4455 E Lincoln Dr, Paradise Valley, AZ 85253

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