Phil Howe

1932 - 2024

H. Philip Howe, age 91 of Manhattan died on Sunday March 17th peacefully at his home.

Phil was born on July 3rd, 1932 in Manhattan, the son of Harold and Ruth Howe. He grew up in Manhattan and attended the Sacred Heart Academy schools. Even though Phil spent most of his time growing up in Manhattan, in the summer Phil would spend time on their family farms. Phil's dad grew up on a farm near Chapman and Phil's mom grew up on a farm near Solomon. Phil would talk fondly about being on the farms - fishing in the river and helping with the harvest and other farm activities.

Phil graduated from the Sacred Heart Academy in Manhattan in the spring of 1950. That fall, Phil enrolled at Kansas State University and joined the Beta Theta Pi Fraternity. The four years at Kansas State were great years for Phil - the lifelong friendships he made with his Beta friends as well as attaining a degree in Business Administration. During the summers of Phil's college days, he and several of his friends worked at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. Later in life Phil and his friends would meet in Estes Park every August and hike in the Rocky Mountain National Park for a week. Phil loved those trips because he was able to recreate and relive some of his best memories of his college days with some of his closest friends.

On June 1st, 1957, at the Seven Dolors Catholic Church in Manhattan Phil was united in marriage to Margaret Griffith. They were married for 57 years until Margaret's passing 10 years ago. Phil and Margaret had four children - David, Janet, Evan and Katy. David lives in Scottsdale, AZ, Janet Daniels and her husband Mike live in Phoenix, AZ, Evan and his wife Shelley live in Prairie Village, KS and Katy Doyle and her husband Tim live in LaGrange IL. Phil is also survived by 10 grandchildren - Maggie Freeman, Kate Buhrow, Jim Daniels, Alex Howe, Alicia Howe, Conner Howe, Megan Doyle, Brian Doyle, Clare Doyle and Amy Doyle. Phil also has 8 great grandchildren.

Phil started his business career in Manhattan as a Consumer Loan Officer for Union National Bank. His office was right downtown on the corner of 4th and Poyntz - in the middle of the action in the 1960's. After several years as an officer of Union National Bank, Phil decided to charter his own bank. After a long process of working with the Kansas Banking Department, Phil was able to get a charter for a new bank for Manhattan. In 1969 "Kansas State Bank" was officially opened. While the permanent bank building was being constructed at its current Westloop location, Phil and the staff of 3 operated out of a "trailer home" on the other end of Westloop. The joke was that don't worry so much about getting robbed in daylight hours, but rather worry about someone coming along at night and hooking up the whole bank to their pickup truck and driving away. One of their earlier promotions was to give away trees under the tag line "grow with us" I know that through the years customers would come up to Phil and say that the little tree they got was now fully grown.

Phil had other business interests outside of banking. He is on a lot of mailing lists and subscribed to many different newspapers and publications. He was always reading about and talking about the latest innovations in farming or ranching or about some new product. It kept him very busy. His interests also carried over to his duty to give back. As many in this community know, Phil has supported many charitable organizations here in Manhattan including the Manhattan Community Foundation.

In short, Phil had a very impactful life both for his family and for his community. He truly cared about doing the right thing.

The family will receive friends from 6:00 to 7:30 P.M. Wednesday, March 20th, at the Yorgensen-Meloan-Londeen Funeral Home.

Mass of the Christian Burial will be held at 10:30 A.M. Thursday, March 21st, at Seven Dolors Catholic Church with Father Kerry Ninemire as Celebrant. Private family inurnment will be in Sunrise Cemetery in Manhattan.

Online condolences may be left for the family through the funeral home website at www.ymlfuneralhome.com.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation. Contributions may be left in care of the Yorgensen-Meloan-Londeen Funeral Home, 1616 Poyntz Avenue, Manhattan, KS 66502.