Carolyn McNail (Nena) Howell's Obituary
Carolyn McNail Howell (“Nena”), of McLean, Virginia passed away on Sunday, November 19, 2023, at the age of 96.
She lived a long, wonderful life overcoming many challenges.
She is survived by her two sons, Joe and his wife Barbara and their four children (Chad Green, Heather Green, Andrea Doyle, Shawn Howell), Chandler and his wife Georgiann and their two children (Elaina Howell, Eva Howell), and eight great-grandchildren.
Born at her family farmhouse in Lavinia, Tennessee in 1927, Carolyn grew up in the small town of Milan, Tennessee with her parents Samuel T. McNail and Eunice Coleman McNail, and her younger brother John Thomas McNail. She graduated High School Valedictorian and attended Memphis State College for two years before contracting polio.
While at college, she met and married Army Air Force Lt. Joe Lester Howell, Jr. of Memphis, who promised to show her the world. And that he did.
Their marriage began in Memphis, but new jobs took them to Texas and then Miami where their first son, Joe III, was born in 1952. They moved to Jackson, MS where their second son, Sam, was born in 1955. Two years after Sam’s birth, a tragic house fire took his life, injuring Carolyn in her heroic efforts to rescue her sons. Her third son, Chandler, was born two years later in 1959.
In 1967 the family moved to McLean VA, where husband Joe established a legislative affairs office for Allstate Insurance Company. In that role, they met and entertained many high-profile dignitaries, all U.S. Presidents from Lydon Johnson to George W. Bush, and partied with movie stars including Frank Sinatra, Robert Redford, Burt Reynolds, and Charles Nelson Riley. Carolyn was among the most genuine of people and truly was the wind beneath her husband’s career. It was her down-home-style that brought company presidents and their wives to town for visits.
For vacations, they traveled internationally to much of Europe and South America, and always secured a family vacation each summer to the beach.
Carolyn spent the last 12 years of her life at Vinson Hall Retirement Community in McLean, VA. She loved meeting new residents, organizing and playing bridge, and serving as a facility marketing model because of her demeanor and style.
The family would like to thank the wonderful staff at Vinson Hall Retirement Community, and the nurses of Vitas Hospice Care.
A graveside service will be held on Saturday, January 13 at 11:00 a.m. at Memorial Park Cemetery.
Memorial Park Funeral Home and Cemetery, 5668 Poplar Ave, Memphis, TN, 38119. (901) 76708930.
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