A Forest legend, Sylvia Howell, Class of 1955, died last night. She passed away from complications of surgery. She lived in Douglasville, GA but was visiting Forest at the time. She underwent emergency surgery at Baptist in Jackson. Sylvia had an outstanding career in academia following a history of championship basketball at FHS. She leaves a long list of Bearcat fans and friends. I’m not sure of funeral arrangements anytime soon, but I do expect a memorial service at her home in GA. Sylvia was a shining example of hard work and service.
Earlier this month, a gentle, intellectual giant died and it's likely that few among her university colleagues and friends in Douglasville, Georgia, knew they were in the presence of a Hall of Fame athlete.
Just as likely, many residents of Sylvia Howell Krebs' hometown of Forest, Mississippi, were unaware that she was a renowned scholar, educator, traveler and writer.
Sylvia Howell Krebs, Ph.D., died Jan. 12 in Baptist Hospital in Jackson following complications from abdominal surgery. She was 83.
As a young newspaper publisher in Forest in 1983, I met her father, Sam Howell, at a Rotary Club meeting. A tall, angular man with a soft drawl befitting his Zebulon, Georgia, roots, Mr. Sam settled in Forest when he was 18 in 1919 to take a job with the Bienville Lumber Company.
He would later work in the Smith Tarrer Wholesale Grocery Company. In 1935, Howell and wife, Mary Sue, bought the old Lod Moore place a little south of the town of Forest. He farmed the picturesque place as long as he was able until his death in 1990.
Mr. Sam liked the simple life. He worked and he farmed, he worshiped at the Forest United Methodist Church, and he went to Rotary Club meetings. At Rotary when we asked, he would tell us about his daughters, Sylvia and Margaret Ann. Other than that, he was a man of few words.
Sylvia became strong helping her father on that farm ? and like him, she grew tall and angular. Like him, there was no quit
in her. She played basketball at Forest High School from 1952-55.
In 1954 and 1955, the Forest High School women's basketball team won 81 straight games behind the dominating play of Sylvia Howell. She was All-State four straight years, scored 4,205 career points, and was merciless against arch-rival Morton High, pouring in an average of 30 points a game.
She was also a state high school doubles champion in tennis in 1955 ? and salutatorian of the 1955 FHS class. Her athletic and academic success continued at Belhaven College in Jackson from 1956-59, where she won All-Star honors in basketball.
Her exploits on the hardwood and the tennis courts landed her in the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Belhaven University Sports Hall of Fame in 1996. She was an inaugural member of the Scott County Sports Hall of Fame in 2015.
Sylvia earned both bachelor's and master's degrees in history at Belhaven. In 1966, she would earn a doctoral degree in U.S. History at the University of Alabama. As noted in her obituary, Sylvia's doctoral dissertation examined early post-Civil War Reconstruction in Alabama.
Her teaching career began at Yazoo City High School but would carry Sylvia to schools and colleges in Alabama, Georgia, Taiwan and China. Sylvia joined the faculty at West Georgia College in 1968, where she met and would marry a colleague, Ed Krebs.
Ed's scholarly passion was Chinese history, a passion that Sylvia shared. Beginning in the early 1970s, they taught and traveled in Taiwan and later China in the 1980s. There, Sylvia taught language, culture and literature to Chinese students.
Over the last 20 years, the couple led travel
tours to China. Sylvia wrote a book called 'How Am I to Touch With You' about her experiences living and working in China during a pivotal time in the country's history.
Married 50 years, Sylvia and Ed never lost touch with friends and family in Forest or with Mr. Sam's lovely little farm, which they used as a retreat. Despite the remarkable life they lived, Ed and Sylvia made time for school and church reunions and worshiping at her dad's beloved Methodist church.
Like the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, I published a number of articles Sylvia wrote about her experiences in China in the Scott County Times. Her byline identified her as the 'Times China Correspondent.'
What a marvelous life well-lived! I will miss her, as will people of a certain generation in Forest ? and in the China she likewise loved.
Douglasville, GA - Sylvia Howell Krebs died Tuesday, January 12, at Baptist Hospital of Mississippi, following complications of abdominal surgery, with family at her bedside.
She was born in Forest on September 9, 1937, and grew up on the farm at "the old Lod Moore place" which her father, Sam Howell, had purchased in 1935. Her mother was Mary Sue Williamson Howell.
Sylvia was educated in Forest city schools and was known for her basketball career at Forest High School. The Forest girls won state tournaments in 1954 and 1955. A few years ago, Sylvia wrote a small book entitled 81 Straight, a reminiscence on those teams and her teammates. Sylvia was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 1996; she is also one of the initial class of inductees into the Scott County Sports Hall of Fame in 2015; she received the same honor from her alma mater, Belhaven College, in 1996.
Her 35-year teaching career began at Yazoo City high school and continued to colleges and universities in Alabama, Georgia, Taiwan, and China. She earned her doctoral degree in U.S. history at the University of Alabama in 1966. Sylvia joined the history department at (then) West Georgia College in 1968. There she met and married a colleague, Ed Krebs. Sylvia joined Ed in Seattle soon after their wedding in 1970. Their honeymoon was the trip "out west," camping and pulling their belongings in a small trailer and visiting Yellowstone National Park and other sights along the way.
After Ed completed his course work in Chinese history at the University of Washington, the couple went to Taiwan in 1971-72 for Ed's program in Chinese language study. This was the first of many residences in China. They made their first trip to the Chinese mainland and the Peoples Republic in 1984-85, to teach English in a foreign languages institute in Chongqing. Later sojourns in China were spent in Xi'an, Beijing, and Nanjing. Sylvia and Ed spent about half of the 1990s in China. Sylvia taught courses in language, literature, and culture while Ed worked with American students in the Duke University Study in China Program.
From 1999 until 2017 the couple organized travel tours to China; the last group was called "Family and Friends," and all but one of the travelers had spent some time at the farm—even two who are from Montana and Seattle! Sylvia enjoyed organizing art exhibits: photography and peasant paintings were shown at Colbert Commons in Forest, and an exhibit of children's art from China was arranged some years ago in Cleveland and at Delta State University there; a friend in Xi'an made the arrangements on the Chinese side.
Besides her doctoral dissertation on early post-Civil War Reconstruction in Alabama, Sylvia had articles published on a range of subjects, from the role of Chinese workers in Mississippi and other southern states after the Civil War, to family travels and manuscripts. Some of her "op-ed" comments on China were published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She enjoyed sending observations on her experiences in China to the Scott County Times. Then-editor Sid Salter liked to call Sylvia "the Times China correspondent." She also wrote reflections on her experiences in China in her book, How Am I to Touch with You? Encounters with China (2010).
Sylvia loved to come back to Forest to work and relax at the farm, and Ed joined her enthusiastically. Stays at the farm were often planned for reunions with classmates and old teammates, lifelong friends. The couple enjoyed church services at Forest United Methodist Church, and the pancake breakfasts and holiday dinners featured in the church's work; they appreciated the warm welcome from church members. Even though Sylvia traveled widely, she always returned to her first home.
Although they married relatively late in life, Sylvia and Ed celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary in August 2020; they looked forward to adding to those years together, but it was not to be. It is fitting that Sylvia's life on earth ended where it took root. "Mr. Sam" and "Sue Sue" gave their daughter a great start in a loving family with solid Christian values. She learned about challenge and discipline through basketball. She always sought to learn more, through formal education and serious reflection on life's experiences. Her key values have been equity and justice in society, peace as more than the absence of violence, and living a caring, inquisitive life. To today's young people, especially from a farm or a small town, Sylvia would say "Keep your eyes and your mind open, have goals and 'Go for it!' Don't worry if the road isn't direct: keep trying!"
Besides husband Ed, survivors include two nephews, Bart Pass of Forest and Michael Pass (Dianne) of Waynesville, North Carolina. Mike's children are three grandnephews and one grandniece, and of that next generation, two great-grandnephews and two great-grandnieces.
Because of our current public health conditions, no services or memorial gatherings will be held for some time; look for announcements on those gatherings later. Meanwhile, all are invited to share memories through Ott & Lee Funeral Services at www.ottandlee.com. Sylvia's earthly remains have been cremated, and family and friends will spread her ashes at places she loved.
Those who would like to make memorial contributions are encouraged to support Forest Public Library or the library in your home area. Farther afield, Doctors Without Borders, International Rescue Committee, and the Nature Conservancy also have been among Sylvia's causes.
Re: OBIT
Posted by Panzey '62 on January 23, 2021, 7:26 pm, in reply to "OBIT"
Thank you for posting the obit, Kaye. I learned a lot about Sylvia from it. She certainly had a full life and was a very interesting person.