John Hall Howard

1934 - 2009 Former Resident Livermore John Hall (Jack) Howard, age 74, of Katy, Texas, passed away Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 at The Methodist Hospital - Houston from complications of acute leukemia. Jack was born August 14, 1934 in Norwalk, Connecticut. He was predeceased by his father, Frederick Cullen, his mother Helen Fedor Howard, and his stepfather William Howard. Jack grew up in Norwalk and Baltimore, Maryland, where he attended high school at Baltimore City College. He received his AB degree cum laude from Harvard College in 1956, completed graduate studies at Johns Hopkins University, and received his Ph.D. in structural geology from Columbia University in 1961. Jack began his geologic career with Shell Development Company in 1957, studying faulting and fracture mechanics in the company's Ventura, California offices, and later contributing to several aspects of the then developing theory of Plate Tectonics. In 1970 he moved to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory as a member of the Plowshare Program to study the uses of nuclear energy for peaceful applications, such as stimulating reservoirs via fracturing. Later, he worked on geothermal energy resources at Lawrence Berkeley and Livermore National Laboratories. He was named a NATO Fellow and studied geothermal installations in Iceland and Italy. In 1982, he returned to the oil business and was Structural Geology Manager at Cities Service Company in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Later, through the mergers in the petroleum sector, he worked successively at Sohio, BP, and Mobil. After his retirement, Jack became interested in technical writing, editing and publishing, and was named Editor in Chief, Publications at Halliburton Energy Services. Jack was a Fellow of the Geological Society of America, Certified Petroleum Geologist with the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, a member of SPWLA, SPE, and HGS, and an active member of Emerson Unitarian Universalist Church. In 1957 Jack married Nancy Woodside of El Paso, Texas. Jack and Nancy met in geology classes at Harvard. They had three children: Thomas, of Spring, Texas; Katharine Crawford (husband Mark) of Orinda, California; and John (wife Amy) of Frisco, Texas. Jack will be especially missed by his grandchildren Jack and Cole Crawford and Natalie and Hunter Howard, all of whom he loved dearly and who were devoted to him. Jack and Nancy loved to travel and in recent years had taken several cruises to beautiful locations around the world, enjoying the local geology and cultures. A Celebration of Jack's life will take place on Saturday, March 28th, 2009 at 4 pm at Emerson Unitarian Church, 1900 Bering Drive, Houston, 77057 (between Westheimer and San Felipe) with a reception immediately following. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that you consider a blood donation (especially apheresis) to your local blood center. Alternatively, contributions to Jack's favorite organizations: Emerson Church, or the Houston Symphony, (615 Louisiana St., Houston, 77002) would be deeply appreciated. Jack was a kind, generous, and gentle man who endeavored to enrich the lives of all who knew him, and he will forever remain in the hearts of those who loved him.