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Charles Lee HowertonCharles Lee Howerton, 82, resident of the Philippines, passed away November 20, 2023, in Talibon, Bohol, Philippines.
Lee was born June 17, 1941, to parents, Virginia (Weems) and Clifford C. Howerton, in Santa Ana, California. He graduated from Green Forest (Arkansas) High School in 1960 and entered the U.S. Marine Corps. He was honorably discharged after a few months due to health issues. After marrying his high school sweetheart, Joyce Simpson, in 1961, the young couple made their home in Green Forest for a time.
Lee worked nights those first years helping construct Beaver Dam on the White River near Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Sons, Kelly and Roger, were born, and not long after, Lee moved the family to Arkansas Post, Arkansas, where he began work on the locks and dams of the Arkansas River. In the next few years, that work moved the family to North Little Rock and Russellville, Arkansas, then back home to Green Forest, where he bought a 200-acre farm north of town and began raising cattle. Farming alone couldn’t make the farm payments, and Lee started working highway construction, operating heavy equipment; he joined the International Union of Operating Engineers. His love was moving earth, be it by bulldozer, crane, backhoe, scraper ... and every now and then, an old-fashioned shovel. His work took him away from home and family for months at a time.
In the 1980s, he began working pipeline construction at jobs nationwide, and eventually he found that he had either worked in or visited every state in the contiguous United States except North Dakota. Lee and Joyce sold the farm and built a home just outside of Green Forest in the 1990s, and he worked much closer to home, using his own machinery to work for private individuals throughout Carroll County.
Joyce passed away in 2011, and in 2014, Lee married Bebencita Ligan of Talibon, Bohol, Philippines. They resided in Green Forest for a few years before moving to the Philippines in 2018.
Lee is survived by wife, Bebencita and family; son, Kelly (Suzette) of Green Forest; son, Roger, of Dallas, Texas; grandchildren: Nicole Long of Harrison, Arkansas; Courtney (Anthony) Dickinson of Green Forest; Kaleb (Normandy) Howerton of Green Forest; Katherine (Matthew) Swofford of Berryville, Arkansas; and Kyle (Summer) Howerton of Green Forest; great-grandchildren: Addyson Long; Cheyenne and Stetson Dickinson; Baylor and Bodee Howerton; “Baby Swofford” (expected in May); and Rowdy Howerton; sisters, Ann and Shirley; and brother, Jerry. He was preceded in death by wife, Joyce; brother Buster; and his parents.
Lee was a generous, hard-working individual who was loved and will be greatly missed.
