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The following article appeared in the January 2008 issue of AustinWoman Magazine.
It is 9:07 on the Sunday morning prior to Thanksgiving when State Representative Donna Howard walks briskly into Little Mexico Restaurant on South First Street. I notice how little she has changed physically since our first encounter over 15 years ago. The bright brown eyes, the glowing skin, the luxuriant curly hair, the toned body of a dedicated runner, topped off with a warm smile that lights up a room, certifies her timeless natural beauty. It is testament to a woman who, as a former preventative health care educator, has followed her own advice.
The restaurant has started to fill with the eclectic mix of clientele that finds its way each Sunday to this popular South Austin eatery. The staff is bustling about like bees preparing for the oncoming crunch of families, after-church diners, couples, musicians, artists and other denizens living south of the shores of Lady Bird Lake. Howard apologizes for being late and I playfully chide her for the seven minutes she has robbed from my life’s quota. Laughter ensues and we begin to tackle the tasks at hand – ordering coffee, our Tex-Mex breakfasts, and most importantly, taking measure of this thoroughly modern woman.
“I was born in the old Seton hospital that no longer exists,” Howard declares as she begins to unfold the fabric of her life. “I grew up primarily in northeast Austin, the eldest of four kids. My parents divorced when I was 13 which was very unusual back in 1964. Both parents remarried within a year.” One marriage brought a stepbrother and sister into the fold and the other, in time, added two half siblings. In short order, Howard became the eldest of eight children.
“I had a great childhood in many ways,” Howard attests but she also admits that being a child of divorce did affect her. Fortunately, her family was very active in the University Baptist Church. She credits members of the congregation and the unconditional love and support they gave her in helping her overcome the trauma. “The church was liberal and progressive (for the ‘50s and ‘60s) and stood up for civil rights and justice issues,” claims Howard. So one can see where the seeds of community service were planted early on – just waiting for the right moment to burst forth, blossom and bear fruit. Another tragedy paid visit to her family with the untimely death of a sibling from substance abuse. “The experience caused me to become well-versed in the issues of chemical dependency,” Howard states softly with a wistful sigh.
Graduating from Reagan High School, she remained in Austin and attended UT. “I don’t know how it happened, but I got into nursing. I just fell into it. I started working at Brackenridge in the intensive care unit while I was still in school. I stayed there for awhile afterwards, but then started working for Seton in their critical care unit on the night shift.” Howard found the experience rewarding, yet became more intrigued by and passionate about the wellness end of the medical spectrum.
In 1977, Howard returned to graduate school where she earned a master’s degree in health education. At around the same time, Seton had decided to hire a patient education coordinator and Howard got the job. “This was unheard of in Austin and lots of the country as well. Not only were we talking about providing pre-natal care education, but also providing education to stroke, chronic lung disease and heart and cancer patients. What we take now for granted just wasn’t done then.” It was in this capacity that she honed her talents to work with multi-disciplinary teams to develop and implement innovative health education programs such as the Seton Good Health School. Howard did not realize it then, but bit by bit she was accruing the skill sets that she would come to utilize on a much broader scale in her future work as a public education activist and eventually, in the political arena.
But several permutations of life and career still stood between the here and the there.Working in health care, volunteering at the People’s Free Clinic on the Drag (now called the People’s Community Clinic) and her involvement with the Texas Nurses Association spurred her on to become more politically active. In 1976, she met her future husband Derek Howard while both were volunteering on a mutual friend’s campaign. For Howard’s husband and in his own words, “It was classic love at first sight!” Also born in Austin, her husband and his family moved away when he was one. Derek eventually returned to Austin to attend UT and graduated with a B.S. in government. After college, he and a roommate pooled all their funds plus what they could borrow to start a hot air balloon business. He felt drawn to go back to graduate school and ended up at St. Mary’s School of Law in San Antonio. “I had it in my head that I had to stay in the general area of hot air,” he quips. His entire professional law career has been practicing employment law primarily in the areas of civil rights, employment discrimination and whistleblower retaliation.
Derek and Donna married after his graduation. The balloon business continued for awhile longer as the law practice was established. During this time, Donna learned some additional skills that she surely has drawn upon in her varied avocations. Her spouse divulges the following tale: “Donna got one ride in my balloon, but she spent a lot of time driving the chase car. Since we had no cell phones (they hadn’t been invented yet) or radios, we did a lot of back-and-forth yelling to communicate where I was headed, so that she knew where to drive the truck. Every flight included a controlled crash landing at some unforeseen destination. Donna’s job was to try to be there when I landed – tougher than it sounds. Sometimes she literally grabbed a rope and hung on as we dragged through a field. I recall more than a few such harrowing landings. We tried our best to avoid power lines, barbed wire and mesquite trees (in that order).”
Perseverance, tenacity, the ability to hang on for dear life, take hard knocks and get back up again most certainly are the lessons learned here and have been put to good use by Howard to face many challenges over the years.
Eventually, three children, (two girls and a boy), entered into the world and Howard’s heart and soul. Eldest daughter Blake is a preschool teacher and in her second year of graduate school in counseling at St. Edward’s University. Son Logan, is a second-year law student at the University of Oregon and youngest daughter Shane is attending Texas State with sights on an elementary education degree. All Howard’s children graduated from the public schools that she has so vigorously supported and defended over the years.
As Howard raised her three children, she found herself working part-time in various capacities. “I was getting more and more connected to what my kids were doing and into education than I was to being professionally driven within the health care system.” She took on the tasks that many a parent volunteers to do at their children’s school. Starting with joining a pre-school co-op, she followed her children into the public school system as a volunteer in their classrooms and the libraries. “I did all the things that allow you to be a part of the moment with your kids,” Howard recalls fondly.
However, many parents stop at this juncture. What was the catalyst that sparked Howard to take the next road less traveled? “What propelled me to get more involved in the politics of the district had to do with what a lot of people get interested in and that is school boundary changes which people take very personally. You’ve had your kids in your neighborhood school that you love and have worked for. And all of the sudden because of the growth or whatever occurs, the district has to look at shifting boundaries as they build a school.” This situation happened to Howard and other neighbors. A group was formed to look at alternative solutions. Another mother was to be the spokesperson, but was unable to do it and approached
Howard to take over. The seeds of public service planted so long ago were beginning to germinate and thrive. Howard was asked by the school district to present her neighborhood’s plan at a community hearing. “That thrust me into politics and I started getting more involved…going to school board meetings…paying attention to what they were doing.” Along with other involved and concerned parents, Howard started a group called Advocates for Eanes Schools. Howard recaps a situation that continues to flare-up even today. “At the time, there were some textbook censorship issues going on primarily in the Round Rock district, but there were rumblings in Westlake. So the group was formed to pay attention to what was going on and make sure that a similar faction did not come into our school system and start dictating what could or could not be taught in the classroom. From my experience with that group, I decided to run for the school board.”
Howard won but served only one term. She, along with three other school board members, were ousted over their votes for supporting the establishment of a second high school in the Westlake District. Undaunted and with a passionate commitment to public education, Howard took on running for the Texas State Board of Education twice. She lost both times, but these races seasoned her for the challenges that lay ahead. Four political campaigns in 2006!
The first was the special election called in January of that year to fill the vacancy created by Todd Baxter’s decision to leave before the end of his term. Howard garnered 49% of the vote against her closest rival, Republican Ben Bentzin’s 37%, but without a plurality she was forced into race number two – a run-off in February that garnered her a win on Valentine’s Day. March ushered in her swearing-in ceremony on Texas Independence Day as well as the third race – a primary for the general election that she won. This victory enabled her to run and win her full term seat in November. Add to this, a special session convened to address the funding of public education in Texas in April of that same year. Howard proved that she was a political long-distance runner.
Equipped with a solid knowledge of the issues facing public education and its funding, Howard credits her surrounding desk mates on the House floor with helping her to understand the legislative process and how to keep up with it during the special session. Howard also learned from those on the other side of the aisle. Carter Castile, a Republican from New Braunfels, was an inspiration to her. Defeated in the last election over her stance on support of public schools over vouchers, Howard relates the invaluable lesson learned from Castile. “Yes, you can be an independent voice. Yes, you are affiliated with a party. Yes, you take certain values that are aligned with that party into what you are doing. But, you also exercise the independence to know what you believe to be right, what your community wants and what your constituents think is the right thing to do! And you can actually make that happen. I really appreciated her strong voice, her common sense and her rational and reasonable rhetoric.”
But serving has its tribulations, toils and even tears. The responsibilities are immense and the emotional costs can be high. “I remember the day that I walked in to take my first major vote on school finance and it was going to be a difficult vote. The vote was over using the new business tax to fund part of education. It wasn’t a perfect answer. We weren’t putting the kind of new money into public education that many of us wanted to see happen. So it was a compromise. I knew that it was the right thing to do to move things forward. At that point, I was planning to support the bill, which I ended up doing.”
As she was walking into the House that day to cast her vote, Howard was approached by a good friend with whom she had worked closely on advocating more government support of social services and public education. “I think she kind of shamed me about what she expected I was going to do. And it really got to me, because I am taking this (vote) very seriously and it was very hard to do. I started crying. Here I am, a fairly new legislator, I’m walking into the House floor and I certainly don’t want anyone to see me crying. I wanted to maintain a certain appearance of strength. The nice young man who stands at the door regulating who can come in and out was the first person I saw as I walked in. I just turned to him with my back to the floor saying, “Can I just stand here for a minute get my composure?” He was extremely helpful and supportive while I got myself together again. I was able to then walk to my desk and take care of business.”
It is a struggle to balance and weigh all the issues. But such iconic figures as Bettie Naylor, a well-regarded and respected lobbyist, believes in Howard’s abilities to make the right, tough decisions. “Donna gives a lot of thought to every decision she makes…I think she pays very close attention and makes her decision based on her deliberation of her own views, those of her constituency and legislative colleagues. She’s outstanding!
When asked if she has noticed a change in the wind of politics as usual and the beginning of a movement towards cooperation and compromise, Howard has this to say: “I definitely think there are quite a few Democrats and Republicans who understand that we have to get back to that statesmanship mentality. We can only become more effective if we do. The serious issues that we’re having to deal with – education, healthcare, and the environment – are not going to be dealt with as effectively if we’re polarizing and try to pick extremes rather than look at that wide swath in the middle that says, ‘Okay, well, this is how we can make it work for most people.’ And we need to do it in a respectful way and realize that we can also get more accomplished by not vilifying one another.”
How does she maintain her optimism and equilibrium? Howard quickly quips, “I don’t always.” She leans forward, looks me straight in the eyes and again flashes that 100-kilowatt smile accompanied by the following sentiment. “Part of it is the understanding that I’m passing through and this is my moment to be able to do things for the community I care so much about. So a lot of it is just an attitude of gratitude. Sometimes, I just have to pinch myself. I really am so incredibly grateful to have been given this gift that I wasn’t expecting – to be able to do things that you can actually see have an impact and to have the opportunity to be around so many people that I enjoy working with. At times there are things I am not crazy about concerning this job. But in large part, I feel I owe it to my constituents to approach it with an attitude all the time that there are some things we can do here. So let’s roll up our sleeves and do it!”
Daughter, sister, friend, co-worker, wife, mother, community activist, legislator and a budding statesman – these are just some of the roles that measure a thoroughly modern woman. Donna Howard more than meets the mark and executes those roles with commitment, compassion and gratitude.
Note: On December 3, 2007, Howard filed to run again to represent District
48. At press time no opponent had formally filed, but it is a foregone conclusion
that one is preparing to run against her.
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