Bibb County GaArchives Photo Tombstone.....Howard, Albert C. 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
James W. Allen jallen46@cox.net July 9, 2005, 1:31 pm

Cemetery:           Linwood Cemetery
Name:               Albert C. Howard

Date Of Photograph: June 25, 2005
Photo can be seen at:
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/bibb/photos/tombstones/linwood/howard6497ph.jpg
Image file size: 92.3 Kb

Albert C. Howard

b: 5 January 1910

d: 6 December 1999

Additional Comments:
Except taken from A Tribute to Sons and Daughters of Pleasant Hill 
named "Climbing the Hill".  It was written by students at Mercer University, 
First Year Seminar/Experimental.  It was edited by Meghann Naber, Tim Smith 
and Randy Harshbarger and published by the Pleasant Hill Weed and Seed 
Initiative in November 2004.

A Treasure in Pleasant Hill (Albert C. Howard)

     It was a cold and bleak December day in 1999.  The flowers were 
beautiful, yet they did not agree with the somber atmosphere.  The music was 
tasteful and would have brought joy to its listeners had it been for any other 
occasion.  Many gathered at Linwood Cemetery in the Pleasant Hill community to 
pay their respects to the recently deceased professor, Albert C. Howard.  He 
was known in the neighborhood to be a hardworking disciplinarian.  This highly 
respected man of eighty-nine years had been born and raised in the community 
in which he was put to rest.  Howard's efforts to improve the small black 
neighborhood would leave a lasting impression in the history of Pleasant Hill.
    On January 5, 1910, a young couple with two beautiful daughters living in 
Macon, Georgia were expecting.  They loved their daughters, but yearned for a 
son.  Frank, the father, needed another man in the house.  Today was the day 
and Mrs Howard felt the beginning pains and worried for her unborn child.  
Hours later, Sarah delivered a handsome baby boy, not in a hospital, but in a 
neighborhood home.  Frank and Sarah proudly named their son Albert Chester 
Howard.  Albert was one of six children and was the only son in the family.
     Albert and his sisters attended school at Ballard Hudson Normal, 
established in 1868 by members of the American Missionary Association and 
Congregational Church.  At the time he attended Ballard Normal was a private 
school that prepared for professional careers.  The firm discipline at the 
black private school had a lasting effect on Albert.  He graduated in 1928 and 
decided to further his education.  He chose Morehouse College in Atlanta, 
Georgia.  He was intriqued by architecture, but chose biology as a major 
instead.  In 1930, at the early age of twenty and still a college student, 
Albert married the love of his life, Carrie Leonard.
     Albert was a member of the fraternity Omega Psi Phi which was founded in 
1911 in Washington, D.C.  The fraternity motto is "Friendship is Essential to 
the Soul".
     In 1932 Albert graduated Morehouse and became a teacher in the Bibb 
County school system.  He taught in this system for thirty-seven years.  
Community work interested Albert and after he retired from teaching he threw 
himself into the endeavor.
     In 1980 Albert planned a class reunion for Ballard Normal graduates.  He 
and a former school friend, Ray Pitts, envisioned the idea more than a year 
before the event.  Eighty years of graduates were invited to attend.  
Invitations were sent all over the country.  It was a massive undertaking for 
the seventy year old men.  The grand reunion was so successful that the Macon 
Telegraph covered the event and wrote numerous articles about it.  Nearly four 
hundred attended the reunion at the Macon Hilton Hotel.
     In the last years of his life he endured much grief.  He lost his wife 
and only child.  More than two years before his death, Albert was sent to Bel 
Arbor Nursing Home.  He was still healthy, but had been diagnosed with 
diabetes.  It was monitored well and caused him no trouble.  He passed away 
just thirty days before his ninetieth birthday of natural causes.  
     Albert Howard leaves a legacy through his family, his service, and his 
hard work.  Albert outlived his daughter, Betty Rose.  Before her death on 
October 19, 1987, she had started a family and Albert was blessed with two 
grandsons, both with bright futures ahead of them.  One has graduated Morris 
Brown and the other works at a family practice and has a daughter.
     Albert Howard's memory will continue not only through his family, but his 
remarkable service in the Community. Albert was devoted to the community in 
chairing the committee that began during the establishment of Pleasant Hill as 
a historical black neighborhood in 1879.
     This excerpt is taken from the addition that was written by Jessi Ford 
for the "Climbing the Hill" booklet written as a memorial to Pleasant Hill 
residents who were instumental in the furthering of their culture and 
bettering of their community as a whole.

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