Episode 199: Margie Howell

The podcast went on the road (with a special guest) to Charlottesville, Va. this week to talk to Margie Howell. Margie grew up on a dairy and beef farm in Bedford County, Va. near the area that is now best known for Smith Mountain Lake. She had typhoid fever when she was 10 and admittedly said was lucky to have survived. She attended Mary Washington and UVA and received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. She met husband Nat Howell at a conference and that would start them on an adventure neither expected. Nathaniel Howell would start a career with the Foreign Service that would eventually lead to a call from President Reagan to be the U.S. Ambassador to Kuwait from 1987- 1991. Nat was the ambassador during Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990. During Nat’s twenty-six year foreign service career, Margie raised their two boys Chip and Edward, completed a masters degree and was a college professor. Paul said at the end that Margie had lived a fascinating life! They finished by talking about her family and how she is working on establishing an endowment in Nat’s name at the University of Virginia where he taught for 22+ years.