Members of the Howard family have lived in an antebellum home on Salem Church Road in Lexington for nearly four generations, dating back to 1836.
Now, thanks to owner Jack Howard, one of Oglethorpe County’s historic houses has a modern, artistic touch that also stretches beyond its walls.
Delicate artwork from the past few decades, attributed to a slow-burning but lifelong passion, lines the halls of the home that was first constructed in 1759.
Howard, who turns 90 in September, has been an admirer of art since he first watched his great aunt, Hattie Howard, paint as a child.
“She inspired me,” said Howard, who had to wait decades before he could paint seriously.
“I grew up wanting to paint, but I didn’t have time,” he said. “Living in Washington, D.C., working, and not knowing many teachers — I waited until I retired and came back home.”
After graduating from Oglethorpe County High School in 1953, Howard spent three years at the Georgia State College of Business Administration, now Georgia State, with aspirations to become a teacher.
But a tip from his landlady in Atlanta to join the railroad led Howard to drop out of school to pursue a career on the tracks.
In just four years, Howard became an administrative assistant for the Southern Railway System, now known as Norfolk Southern, acting as a de facto secretary to the railway’s president, while traveling up and down the eastern seaboard.
“I worked my way up and got to travel with the president of the railroad, and of course, we traveled by private railroad car,” Howard said. “And that’s the nicest life anybody could live.”
During his nearly 40-year career, Howard couldn’t create art, but he recalled spending weekends at museums, admiring the vast network of paintings in America’s capital.
“I’d go from one museum to the other, stand there, look and say, ‘I can do that,’’’ he said. “When you’re young, there’s a whole lot of things you want to do, and you can’t do all of them.”
In 1993, Howard retired. After his mother’s passing in 1996, he moved back to the house on Salem Church Road and began an afternoon painting class in Washington, Georgia, taught by a retired professional portrait painter. It was then he fine-tuned his skills with oil paint.
Although he doesn’t paint today, he particularly enjoyed illustrating inanimate objects such as fruit and wide landscapes. Dozens of frames containing the handiwork of the former railway administrator are within the walls of the historic house he was born and raised in.
Yet, the impact of his art has been felt beyond the walls of that home.
“We have eight (paintings), and they are some of our favorite things,” said Danny Sanders, an Oglethorpe County resident.
A member of Salem Baptist Church just down the road from his residence, Howard has also used his art as a means for good.
“We would have fundraisers at the church where we auction off items like a yard sale, and he would always submit a painting to help raise money for missions and our youth,” said Brett Mask, pastor at Salem Baptist.
Howard said his later years spent as an artist were passion-driven, so making large profits off his work has never been the goal.
“If you wanted to buy one, I couldn’t put a price on it, like I should,” he said. “If you’re a friend, I’m just going to give it to you.”