Howard Rufus Christopher passed into our Lord's arms on July 25, 2024. He was 89 years old.  He was the last of the 8 Christopher children living.  He grew up in Southside Alabama.  A son of a farmer, he and his brothers and sisters picked cotton, vegetables and fruits growing up along with other duties that came with helping run a farm.  He graduated from Southside High School in 1954 where he played on the football team, was part of FFA and was voted most likely to succeed.

After high school he and his twin, Harold, joined the army together and ended up in Germany setting telephone wires across the country as part of their service. After getting out of the army Howard moved to California where he worked in the Bethlehem Steel Mill.

As a young man Howard would hitchhike home to Southside and then back to California (it was a simpler time.)  He even had a trip where they had to open their car doors to catch the wind when they ran out of gas in the desert.  He seemed to always be doing what needed to be done.

He loved his Ford Thunderbird and was known at that time as "Thunderbird Howard".  He married Dororthy Christopher in 1967 and began life as a father in Southgate California.

Howard loved to travel and especially loved driving vacations "road trips".  He spent nearly all of his free time with his family.  With his mother and father in Alabama, Dorothy's family, who lived nearby, became a bigger part of his life.  He was quick with a joke and the master of the blender. The Mai Tai was his signature drink that he would mix up at family gatherings.  The laughter he helped bring was infectious.

In the early 70's he helped his sister Frances and her husband Bill open a beer bar (The Buzz Inn) by loaning them the money to get started.  Much to his children's dismay he traded his pickup truck "old yellow" to Bill for a Studebaker car, a trade that his children never understood.

Howard and Dorothy divorced in the mid 70's.  Two years later they remarried.  When the Steel Mill closed Howard went back to school to study welding.  He ended up working for Northrup Grummen helping build the B2 Bomber.

He was involved in his sons' lives and was always there for them. When they joined the Boy Scouts he became an Assistant Scout Master in Troop 1004 in Lakewood, California where the family now lived. Howard rarely missed a campout or Summer Camp and was one of the few fathers that was a reliable supervising adult.

In the late 80's he and Dorothy divorced again, this time for good.  He put his sons through college and worked at Northrup until the B-2 program was phased out.  He wasn't ready to retire just yet, so he earned a guard license and went to work as an armed security guard.

When he retired in the early 2000's he moved back to his childhood home of Southside and did what he loved best, growing a garden and riding his John Deere Tractor to till or to simply bush-hog and mow.  He also bought a 1990's convertible Thunderbird that he would drive to Southside Baptist Church every Sunday.  Nobody called him "Thunderbird Howard" but I suspect in the back of his mind, to him, he still was.  He enjoyed going to Jack's every morning and ordering black coffee, biscuits & gravy "extra brown" and always brought his bowl of tomatoes with him to put on top.  He was one of those old guys you saw there every morning BSing, laughing and talking about this world.

His former wife Dorothy moved to Southside years later to be near her grandchildren and Howard did what he had always done, he helped her move in.  The two ended up together almost all the time as companions; a relationship that was built over a lifetime was more brother and sister than anything else and centered around family.  When asked about how he always took care of his family he simply stated, "That's what you're supposed to do".

He loved all things Alabama, especially sports.  If there was a college that was located anywhere in Alabama playing any sport he would watch.  Softball, baseball, football (of course) and even track events.  The Crimson Tide was his favorite; he loved his red trucks and the red carpet in his house.

Howard was nicknamed "The Iron Man" by his sons' friends after they had heard of his brushes with death or dismemberment.  He survived a gas explosion underneath their old house. It burned all the hair off of his face and most of the hair on his head.  That year he shaved it bald. He had a car battery blow up in his face and walked away with no injury.  He survived a car crash that flipped his truck upside down and totaled it; he walked home from that.  He also survived teaching his sons how to drive stick shift. In his early 70s he fell off of the top of a ladder and fell on his back.  When asked what he did when he couldn't pick himself up off the ground he stated, "I crawled into the house, got a beer and sat down".

Howard Christopher was a lot of different things in his life, but most of all he was a man who loved his family, kept his word and did the right thing.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Charles and Leila(Sewell) Christopher, his brothers, Al, Lloyd Lee, Charles, Harold and Jerry Christopher and sisters Louise McMeekin and Frances Kirkland. He is survived by his sons, Aaron Christopher and Chuck(Kim) Christopher, his grandsons Evan and Connor Christopher and his best friend, companion and caregiver Dorothy Christopher. Services will be held at 2pm on Friday, August 2 at Crestwood Funeral Home Chapel. Visitation will be held from 1 to 2pm prior to the service. Special thanks to ProHealth Hospice.