Gregory Alvin Howell

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January 3, 2024

Gregory Howell my friend.... You saved my life... and you taught me so very much !! In 2006 I picked up a magazine called "Target Magazine" it was the first in a 2 part series that Doc Hall wrote on Greg and the Lean Construction Institute.... moreGregory Howell my friend.... You saved my life... and you taught me so very much !! In 2006 I picked up a magazine called "Target Magazine" it was the first in a 2 part series that Doc Hall wrote on Greg and the Lean Construction Institute. Working in the Chicago Construction industry I read that article and was like "CHICAGO NEEDS LEAN CONSTRUCTION" I called Doc Hall and Me and Doc Hall became fast friends. He got me involved with the Association of Manufacturing Excellence and began to teach me about lean. 2 years later Doc recommend me to Greg and Greg hired me as his 'administrative assistant' During that time i was involved in a heated custodial battle over my son and my family had totally turned against me in my views of how he needs to be raised. I fired my lawyer and filed a motion, when i went to court ( the day after I started working for Greg) I got thrown in Jail trying to enforce my visitation rights.. Long story short 3 months later I was sitting in a cell without the money to post the $2,000 bond, no lawyer , pretty much solitary confinement about 22 hours per day and I begged a guard to get the mailing address for Greg. I wrote him and told him what happened said please bond me out and i will work it off and get it back later. He did it !! He had gotten me an apple computer ( he was all about the Apple... AND HE WAS RIGHT ~) He spent an enormous amount of time teaching me about lean construction, about being professional, dealing with professor types, how to operate an Apple Computer.... I was with him during the time LCI began getting noticed and it was exciting. It was also at the time he began his exit of LCI... Those 2 years or so and the years after he helped me when Me and Doc Hall started a small "lean agricultural' company.... THANK YOU SO MUCH GREGORY HOWELL FOR WHAT YOU DID FOR ME.... You were a wonderful person and I sincerely wouldnt be where i am today without you .. YOU LIVE IN MY HEART AND THE OTHERS WHO LOVE YOU !! less

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July 30, 2020

Gracias Gregg por tus contribuciones y enseñanzas sobre Lean Construction. Siempre te recordaremos y mucha fortaleza para la familia Howell.

20:36

I Seminario Internacional - Innovación en Gestión de la Construcción Universidad de Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia.

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July 1, 2020

Dear Mrs Howell & family,

We are deeply grieved to learn about the sad news of the demise of Mr Greg Howell, former founder and managing director of the Lean Construction Institute (LCI) of USA and a highly distinguished personality in the field of... more

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Kaezad Karanjawala reacted on this.

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June 26, 2020

Greg Howell was my personal Halley’s comet. We both attended William Chrisman High School in Independence, Missouri, and I greatly admired him. I think it was around the end of our sophomore year that he came by my house for a visit to talk about his... moreGreg Howell was my personal Halley’s comet. We both attended William Chrisman High School in Independence, Missouri, and I greatly admired him. I think it was around the end of our sophomore year that he came by my house for a visit to talk about his family’s upcoming move to Arizona. We both knew that Scottsdale had excellent schools and was a great place to live, but I was sad to say goodbye to such an interesting friend.

As often happens when teenagers move away, Greg and I did not keep in touch, although I got reports about him. And, as chance would have it, my parents moved away from Independence in the spring of my junior year – less than a year after Greg left. Neither Greg nor I had the traditional experience of attending one high school for four years and then graduating with a cadre of classmates that we had known “forever.”

I often thought of Greg and, though I knew he would do well, I had no direct contact with him. Then, 52 years later, my Halley’s comet friend returned. A classmate from Chrisman put us in touch when Greg mentioned that he was going to visit the Bay Area. Since my husband Jim and I lived in Oakland, the planets were aligned for us to drive to Half Moon Bay to meet Greg for brunch. He was just as delightful to visit with as he had been when we were kids. Our brunch was in the spring and I told him that Jim and I were planning to attend the Chrisman 50th Reunion that fall. The organizers let me be part of the group even though I had not graduated, and I was sure they would also welcome Greg and Dana.

While he had seemed interested, I was very surprised when he wrote and said that he and Dana would meet us in Independence. It was a wonderful reunion. We sat at the same table with Greg and Dana and other old friends. Reunions are remarkable because it’s as if time has stood still except that we’re all a little wiser and more confident. Spending time with Greg in 2011 was a cycle like a Halley’s comet, and Greg was definitely a bright star in the sky.

The denouement was another dinner when Greg was in Oakland not long after the reunion. And there was Facebook, where I was able to follow Greg and Dana and Emily from afar. It was Greg’s brave post in late January about his illness that broke all our hearts.

Rest well, Greg. The old gang from Independence remembers you and misses your shining light that passed through in our youth, and returned decades later to celebrate with us ever so briefly. less

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June 25, 2020

Those of us who were lucky enough to know Greg will always treasure his memory, remembering his keen intellect, his sense of humor, his sense of adventure, his energy, and his kindness.
As a seventh-grader in a class of hundreds, his personality... more

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June 22, 2020

I remember that Greg always had a story to tell and a conversation with him was never boring or very short. He was one of the nicest people and was so kind hearted. I remember when I first moved to Colorado, Greg and Dana made me feel like their second... more

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June 19, 2020

I remember Greg telling us we weren't real Stanford students unless we could transfer the milkshake at the Peninsula Creamery from the metal cup to the glass without using the spoon and without making a mess. I guess I wasn't a real Stanford student. My... more