Leonard E. Howell Jr., retired SEPTA foreman, community mentor, and Freemasons leader, has died at 74

Leonard E. Howell Jr., 74, formerly of Philadelphia, retired SEPTA foreman and quality control inspector, community mentor, and Freemasons leader, died Wednesday, March 15, of lung cancer at Lowcountry Community Hospice House in Summerville, S.C.

Mr. Howell worked as a foreman for more than two decades in SEPTA’s revenue collection department. He oversaw the transit authority’s staff of revenue attendants and monitored its collection equipment at various locations around the city.

Away from work, he served as a mentor and community activist for friends and neighbors in West Philadelphia and later Summerville. He helped young people find work, assisted elderly neighbors around the house and on odd jobs, and made sure those in need found ways to address their issues.

One year, he supplied live Christmas trees to 10 families during the holidays. “He related to everyone,” said his daughter, Fleta. “He was like a teacher who gave good advice.”

Beginning in 1971, Mr. Howell was an active and popular member of the Freemasons’ Herbert E. Millen Mason Lodge No. 151 in Philadelphia. He became the lodge’s worshipful master in 2008 and later served as patron for the Masons’ Eastern Star Organization and its Queen of Sheba Lodge No. 39.

In a tribute, family members said Mr. Howell was “cool and debonair, always the life of the party.” They said his “charismatic personality, creative talent, and energies drew people to him.”

Leonard Edward Howell Jr. was born Oct. 10, 1948, in Philadelphia. He graduated from Germantown High School in 1966 and took classes in urban studies and community development at Rutgers University-Camden.

He served four years in the Army Reserves and worked as a carpenter, cash register repairman, and building engineer. He met Fleta Waters on a blind date, and they married in 1981, and had daughter Fleta Maria.

After a divorce, he met Waverly Brown at a dance, and they became partners in 2005 and moved to South Carolina in 2019. They continued to dance and travel, and he embraced his move from the city to the countryside. “If you knew him, you couldn’t help but love him,” Brown said.

Mr. Howell was active at Mount Zion Baptist Church of Germantown. He was a founding member and past president of its DMJ meditation choir, and served as an usher for more than 50 years. Later, he became a member of the Church House of Ministries Worldwide in Ladson, S.C.

He ran track in high school, liked swimming and diving, and played soccer and volleyball with his daughter. He was good with his hands and won at pinochle and other card games.

“He had a creative flair,” his former wife said.

He enjoyed vacations in the Poconos and family reunions in Virginia, was a championship bowler, and everyone said he rarely complained. “He was a great father,” his daughter said. “He was patient and calm, and I could go to him and talk about anything.”

His daughter wrote a poem that was featured on the program for his memorial service in Philadelphia: “Calm, cool, and collected. Well-known, well-loved, and respected. So much joy you radiated and infected. From one spirit to another you connected.”

In addition to his daughter, partner, and former wife, Mr. Howell is survived by a grandson, brother, sister, and other relatives.

Memorial services were held in South Carolina on March 26 and Philadelphia on March 31.

Donations in his name may be made to the Herbert E. Millen Lodge #151, 4301 N. Broad St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19143.