GARY LAMAR HOWES

1945-2020

Gary Lamar Howes,

Moose, Grandpa, Dad, Lamar Baby, was a man of many names as well as a wonderful father, grandfather, uncle, brother, and husband. Gary passed away on June 11th, 2020 due to a stroke. He was born on Christmas Day 1945 in San Diego, and he spent the rest of his childhood moving around the United States with his family. Gary moved to New Zealand at the age of 20, where he found his vocational calling in fire protection engineering. It was also in New Zealand where he met his beloved wife, Colleen. They were married and started their family, before moving back to the United States in 1973. They moved to Houston, TX where Gary worked for National Fire Protection further pursuing a career in fire protection engineering. Soon thereafter they moved to Saint Louis where Gary would remain for much of his life. He founded several successful businesses in Omaha, Kansas City, San Diego, and Saint Louis. He is remembered as an incredibly hard-working businessman, who greatly disliked sitting still, and always took on new projects. This included consistently adding on to his home in Chesterfield, such as a tree house with electricity and running water for his grandchildren as well as a par three golf course. Another project that was important to Gary was helping his Grandson, Max, create the perfect matchbox race car for the local Boy Scout races. They would spend a weekend in the garage working together to make sure that all the appropriate adjustments were made.

In his free time, if he was not working on a project, he was traveling the world. He and his wife have visited 6 of 7 continents and attended many global events. Gary especially enjoyed his time traveling through Asia where he would eat his way around town. He could always be found trying new foods from street merchants and exploring the various food markets in whatever city he was visiting.

Gary is survived by his wife, Colleen, two sons, Aaron (Dee Dee) and Jamie (Robyn), grandchildren Kadija, Max, Kendall, Austin and Mason. Gary’s brother, Jon (MaryJane) and their children Kristie, JulieAnna and their children Adlee, Brynlee and Waylon, and all our cousins that called him grandpa.

Private Services were held at Buchholz Mortuary West.