Lionel Howarth

Lionel (Lyle) Howarth CD,BA, BSW, MSW was born in Vancouver and grew up in New Westminster and Surrey. As a teen, Lyle worked as an electrician, then enlisted as an infantryman in WWII. Mechanically gifted, Lyle was promoted up through the ranks to a position in the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals where he serviced decoding machines in Bletchley Park, famous for the ENIGMA project.

Returning home, Lyle enrolled at UBC and obtained his Master’s Degree in Social Work. There he met his dear and devoted wife May Howarth (nee Webb), wedding her in 1949. Happily married for more than 35 years, May predeceased Lyle in the middle 1980’s. Lyle never remarried.

After graduation, Lyle worked 20 years for the Parole Board of Canada, responsible for administering the Interior, Eastern BC and Kootenays regions. Always ready with a joke and a kind word, Lyle’e career segued into teaching, where he taught briefly at Mount Royal College in Calgary and then for 20 years at Douglas College.

Teaching some of the very first classes at the opening of Douglas College, Lyle was one of those special inctructors who was attentive and quick-witted, but would also tell you the hard truth when you needed to hear it. This rare breed of honesty was Lyle’s hallmark: he always stood up for the “little guy” and more than once rattled the trees at board meetings where he refused to be “politically correct” and stood his ground.

Lyle’s early courses were on interpersonal communications, but he became a full-time Criminology Instructor and helped shape the College’s then-fledgling Criminology program.

A natural entertainer and storyteller, Lyle was always on great terms with his students, and one of his favourite activities while at Douglas College was organizing the annual student field trip to England and the UK to study the history and workings of the British criminal justice system. He loved tinkering in his electronics lab and cobbled together his own computers.

Lyle was also an avid Amateur (Ham) Radio enthusiast, a pre-internet activity and passion that allowed him to network with like-minded and interesting people, many that became his lifelong friends. I firmly believe that if you asked him as a younger man what he loved best in life, he would have said his wife May first, his radio second, and everything else third...

Lyle passed unexpectedly at the age of 92 on Nov. 8th due to complications following a heart attack, at Royal Columbian Hospital. He is survived by his niece Crystal (Dixon) and nephew Clint. It goes without saying that he will be greatly missed by friends and family. He was a true individual in an age of growing conformity. And one of the few for whom it can accurately be said, “[we] shall not look upon his like again.”

Many thanks to the great staff at Thornebridge Gardens and the support of Lyle’s many loving friends. A Celebration of Life will be held at 10 a.m. Monday December 3rd at the Burquitlam Funeral Home, 625 North Rd., Coquitlam, BC.