Royce Olen Howell, former employee of Ouachita Marine, Reynolds Metal Company and Arkadelphia Public Schools, passed peacefully from this life the morning of October 22, 2026 at his home in New Orleans, Louisiana surrounded by his loving family- his wife of more than 66 years Bettye June Tuttle Howell, his son J. Todd Howell and his son-in-law Ted Chigaros and Squiggly, his favorite child.
Royce was a graduate of Fountain Lake High School and attended Henderson State University. Royce served in the U.S. Army’s peace keeping troops for 13 months in South Korea.
Royce was an ordained deacon of Caddo Valley Baptist Church. He also served the City of Caddo Valley as Mayor from 1992-1998. But his favorite job came in retirement working for Arkadelphia Public School’s transportation department a.k.a. The Bus Shop, where he made some of his best friends.
His job included driving the sports teams and bands to competitions out of town. As a bonus, he was their biggest cheerleader. For that, he was awarded the Spirit of Badger Award for his enthusiastic support of the students.
He was preceded in death by his mother Laveda Cox James, his stepfather S.A. James; mother-in-law Ruth Tuttle and father-in-law T.B. “Tink” Tuttle.
Royce’s memorial service will be held at DeGray Lake State Park- Caddo Bend, Pavilion #1 at 11am on Saturday, November 7, 2026. A catered lunch after the service will be prepared for guests who would like to rsvp by Nov.2 to jtoddhowell@aol.com
Memorials may be made to the ACORN Fund at Patterson Federal Credit Union benefitting school lunch accounts for APSD students OR to another charity of your choice. No flowers, please.
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