Sedgwick County Genealogy Trails Obits Deaths G

SEDGWICK COUNTY, KANSAS

ALFRED E. AND KATHRYN HOWSE

A. E. "Alfred" Howse, 78, retired furniture dealer and former Wichita mayor, and his wife, "K.P." Kathryn Howse, 78, homemaker, both of 1400 N. Woodlawn, died Monday, Nov. 10, 1986. Services are private.

His survivors: brothers, Robert K. of Wichita, W.E. of Canyon, Texas; sister, Edith Lloyd of Wichita. Memorial has been established with Wichita State University Library Trust. Downing & Lahey Mortuary.
(Wichita Eagle ~ November 14, 1986)

FORMER MAYOR KILLED ~ A.E. HOWSE DID BATTLE IN INTEREST OF PUBLIC

A.E. Howse helped built this city and save his country.

To be sure, he rubbed a lot of people wrong during years of public service in Wichita and in Washington. One noted example: In 1958, he was punched to the ground during a City Commission meeting by a fellow commissioner.

But Mr. Howse accomplised wonders, by working with a single-minded and steely purpose for what he thought right: Cheney Reservoir, most of all.

"He didn't back away," said friend Marvin Harder, a University of Kansas political scientist. "Whatever he thought was in the public interest, he was ready to do battle for."

Mr. Howse, 78, was shot to death in his sleep late Monday night by his wife, Kathryn. Before killing herself, Mrs. Howse left a note saying she committed the murder-suicide because both she and her husband were in poor health, police said.

Born in 1908 to a long-established Wichita business family, Mr. Howse made his greatest mark on Wichita by planning the use and control of water.

He led the effort to build Cheney Reservoir, thus ensuring Wichita a long-term water supply. And he pushed for the west Wichita flood-control project - The Big Ditch - to make possible secure development of a vast section of the city.

But Mr. Howse did much for the entire nation, for the state of Kansas, and for Wichita State University.

During the Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower administrations, he played big parts in preparing the United States for Word War II and its aftermath while serving in the Army Air Corps and, after the war, with the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion and with the Surplus Property Board. He managed the purchase of $80 billion of army airplanes -- and, after victory, the disposal of $15 billion of surplus military equipment.

In 1951, he coordinated government relief efforts after the Great Flood -- at the time, the greatest disaster in U.S. history, with 600,000 displaced people and $5 billion in property damage in nine Midwestern states.

Howse served on several state advisory boards during the administration of Gov. Alf Landon, and he helped establish the Kansas State Highway Patrol. "He did good work for me, and good work for the state," Landon said Tuesday.

During the 1970's, Mr. Howse made two contributions to Wichita State University: his fast collection of papers on the water problem, and more than 2,000 works of art.

But Mr. Howse was most proud of his work in solving the city's water problems, according to his nephew, Christopher Howse.

"The war was very important, because, like most people, he felt he was on the side of angels. But water was more personal....That impacted directly on his life and that of his family and neighbors: It really was his memorial."

The long struggle over the reservoir summed up Mr. Howse's public character.

"He had the courage and foresight to fight for it," said Dwight Button, former chairman of the Fourth National Bank. "And despite a lot of opposition, he stayed hitched and was able to recruit a number of other prominent businessmen and solved the problem. He was very strong-minded" - Button stopped to laug - "and if he believed in something, he went all the way."

KU's Harder cited another example of Howse's readiness to brave opposition in order to tackle the real tough problems: annexation of what is now Wichita's industrial north end.

"Most politicians try to protect their reputations -- to equivocate or try to use rhetoric -- but whether you liked (Mr. Howse's) views or not, you always knew where he stood," Harder said. "And in my book, one of the tests of leadership is willingness to take risks. Otherwise you can't get anything done. And he was that kind of man."

By most accounts, Mr. Howse was brilliant - a sharp and orderly thinker. While in Washington, he loved to show his pristine clear desk, in defiance of bureaucratic tradition.

At East High, he bet a friend he could study chemistry for a year and win a chemistry scholarship to college: He did. At the University of Chicago, he wanted to take graduate courses without first fulfilling undergraduate requirements, so he bet the dean he could pass a general exam: He did, and took only one undergraduate course in 2-1/2 years at the college.

Howse was impatient as well as intelligent.

"He didn't have much tolerance for what he thought was ineptitude," said Harder. "Most of us tend to conceal those feelings, and he didn't."

During his years as a city commissioner and a mayor, in the late 1950's, Howse frequently battled with two other commissioners - John Madden and John Stevens, the man who knocked him to the ground and broke his glasses in 1958 in a dispute over a zoning matter. Commission meetings were known as the "Tuesday night fights."

But when he had the votes, Howse also could be "arbitrary in ignoring or brushing aside the opposition," said longtime friend Justus Fugate.

To friends, however, Howse was loyal and generous.

Many cried, from the heart, when they heard on Tuesday of Howse's death.

(The following paragraphs appeared in the State Edition only)

In his last years, Mr. Howse worked with "all-consuming interest" on his memoirs, said nephew Christopher. Not to boast, just to put it all in context. But his memoirs were like everything else.

He wasn't halfway in," Harder said, "he was all the way in."
(Wichita Eagle ~ November 12, 1986)