The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Jean Howell Joined Marc Hunt Live On “A Life, Unedited” On The I Love CVille Network!

Episode Date: March 18, 2026

Jean Howell, Women Rights Activist, Business Owner, Mother, Wife, joined Marc Hunt live on A Life, Unedited! A Life, Unedited airs live Wednesday from 10:15 pm – 11:00 am on The I Love CVille Network. “A Life, Unedited” is presented by Martha Jefferson House.

Good morning. My name is Mark Hunt, and this is a life unedited. In this podcast, I have the privilege of sitting down with remarkable people to talk about their lives and perspectives without the filter of hindsight. Today, I am so honored to have Gene Howe. She is a woman's rights advocate, a business owner, a mother, and a wife. Jean, thank you so much for being here. Your story begins in Northern Virginia when it was a quiet suburban community. What do you remember most about those early years? Well, to compare it, there was a place of, it was a vegetable and fruit market

at what is now Tyson's Corner, which is huge. And then it was a crossroad. And because the family would occasionally go down to Leesburg or to Purcellville for picnics, we would stop there and buy fresh fruits and vegetables for a picnic. And anybody who's been to Northern Virginia recently knows that was totally different than what it is now. Why Northern Virginia did your parents work for the government? Yeah, my dad was deputy treasurer. And so, of course, he was in Washington. And mom also was working for a bank in town.

So they commuted every day. Wow. You've told me that some of your most vivid memories from childhood were your summer spent on your grandparents' farm in rural Kansas. What was that world like for a girl from suburbia, Virginia? Heaven. I'm sure. We loved it.

My sisters and I, we love. loved going there. We loved our grandparents. And it was just totally different than Northern Virginia. And it was away from home. It was a real treat. How long would you say there? Probably from the end of school until maybe early August. Oh, wow. My grandmother took care of us. And as we talk, you'll learn that she was my role model, so I could hardly wait. to go every summer. That's incredible. So you did get to tell me a little bit about your grandmother.

She sounds like an incredible human being. What do you remember most about her? How strong she was. Not physically strong, although she was. She just knew who she was, knew what was important to her. And if she thought she could do something, she went and did it. Wow. and that ranged from church committees.

She was a very strong member of the Burlington Methodist Church. And she just, and then she ran for later being county treasurer and won that vote. She also was a mother. And after her husband died, she was responsible for income. income. And that's what I find some remarkable about her story that you've told me, was that your grandmother lost her husband in a tragic accident. And you've told me that instead of collapsing under that loss, she rebuilt her life in a really significant way. She totally did. How, so you said she ran for a county treasurer, which is kind of unheard of in those times.

Oh, my goodness, yeah. And why? why she did. I never heard her talk about as my golden opportunity or anything, but she just decided, I guess, that she could do that job and she needed the money and she ran for it and won. Wow. That's incredible. I'm sure she was the first woman to be in that position too. Probably, I don't know. What did that teach you from an early age about character and resilience? Well, there have been moments in my life where I've needed. did resilience to keep going. I lost my own husband. I had colon cancer. I don't know. You just, when my husband died, I remember it was about a month after he died and I was down in the

kitchen one morning getting breakfast ready, had guests in the house. And I thought, how am I going to get through this? And then I thought of grandma. My kids called her Grandma Great. But I remembered that she had done it and that I've valued her life so much that I thought if she could, I guess I could. And that kind of just gave me the oomph to keep going. That's incredible.

What incredible role model. So you were growing up in the 1960s and 70s. In the 1960s, was a period of enormous change in America. How aware were you of the events happening around you at such a young age? Very, very. Our family was always tuned in to national and international affairs. So at dinner every night, we were always talking about them. And so, well, the rest of my life I have been.

I'm called a news junkie, and I think that's probably true. Not that the news is always important or is good news. We know that. But I just stayed involved the whole time, and it was very important to me. Which administration did your father work for? Several. He was deputy treasurer. So although the treasurer of the United States was an appointment,

was an appointment he reported to her, mostly. It was mostly women over the years. But he had the business side. She had to do a lot of the social stuff. And he was very bright. He was trained as a lawyer. And he was very, very involved in working towards a better life for our country. Do you remember the assassination?

of President Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Dr. King? Everyone. President Kennedy, I was in New York City, living in New York, and I had my son, who was at that time about eight months old, and I put him in the, I had, I turned the TV on, and I heard about it, and I put him in one of those little infant seats that we used at those times, and sat him in front of the TV, and he watched. Wow.

You know, you look back on all of that. But yes, and then Robert Kennedy, I knew because I was watching the California race where he was killed after he got to the hotel. And then for Martin Luther King, Jr., I heard about it through Robert Kennedy telling followers. I think he was in Indiana. I don't remember somewhere in the Midwest. And he was teaching to a primarily black group. And he said, I have something to tell you all.

I forget his words, but I remember that. What a significant time in history. How did those events shape you at that time? Well, they've tied in to everything I'd ever learned. All of our commitment to keeping track of what's going on in the world. Why? What it is? How it can be fixed.

And those were dark years because there were three major. assassinations in the 60s. Did it ignite something inside of you that you wanted to make a difference? Yes. I always was very committed. And I also, that was to be kind of the emerging of the women's movement, got much stronger, of course, in the 70s, but I became very interested in what women were doing or not doing because they were not allowed to.

I know I couldn't go to University of Virginia when I wanted to because I was a woman. And the rules were that you had to be third or fourth year before you'd be considered because you were a woman. There were a lot of things like that, but those things led me to want to know more, to be more involved. That's still so mind-blowing to me.

It wasn't that long ago. No. So you, In your early 20s and then, you know, for the rest of your life kind of fell into activism. And you were, you know, an advocacy, advocate for women's rights. Very much so. In the 1970s, I think the modern feminist movement was coined. The term feminist movement was probably coined during that time.

And you spent many years, volunteering in shelters for abused women. What first you drew you to that work? Again, it was something that I thought I could do. And I felt very strongly about that issue. And a women's shelter was near where I went to work. And it was in the woods because you had to be secret. And I would do the hotline.

And then I would work in the shelter. as women were brought in or came in and their children because they would have to bring their children because the children had nowhere to go. Right. And so we had activities and beds for children and, of course, for the mothers. We had a rule the longest they could stay in one visit was, I think, six weeks. But during that period, they weren't just sleeping and eating dinner. were preparing for their future life.

And these women had lost much of their self-esteem. And so we were asking them to do things that they had been denied for quite a long time. It was an enormous experience. I'm sure. What an incredible experience. I'm sorry? So what an incredible experience. So where did that take you professionally and personally from that experience in the feminist movement?

Well, the 60s were important. And I'll tell you three very brief stories. My two sisters and I all were working. And we all had experiences of sexism and limits on our ability. And I was a regional sales manager for a banking system company. And I was out to dinner with my boss, who was the national sales manager. And somewhere during dinner, he said, why are you here and not home with your children? Wow.

And I remember laughing. And but I didn't get angry. And it wasn't until, that was a Thursday night, it wasn't until Monday when I saw the president of a company. And kind of on the side, I mean, just casually told him about that incident. And that national sales manager was fired. that week. I didn't ask that he'd be fired, but I was

struck by that was illegal at what he did. And that was it. One other sister was starting a new business in technical writing, and she's very, very good at it, and she couldn't get money from banks because it said we don't lend to

women. And my other sister was in New York, and she was working for a capital management company and she decided to go get her PhD at Columbia and when she told them that she was going to do that they said she remembers that they said just like a woman to change her mind so those were our not only but some experiences that's how it was that's so unfortunate so unfortunate she became a full professor at Columbia good for her you were all three successful all three would very successful yeah i think we were but we were right to do what we did about it were your other

sisters also influenced by your grandmother oh yeah i was the one that was closest to her but no we all talk about grandma you met your husband in high school. Yeah. And you were actually dating his brother. I was. How did that happen? Well, we were on,

I'd been dating his brother a little bit. It didn't much like him, but I was going out. And he, we just, well, we were on a double date. That's what it was. And his brother and that girlfriend were in the back seat, and I was in front.

And I just thought, it was so strange about a week later Larry called me and asked me to go out to a dance or something and we went and that was the beginning I never saw his brother again and we

became very close and we dated for over two years he was in college that's the thing that drew me to him first oh he's got a fraternity pin so anyway we dated and in two and a half years years we got married. Wow. I was all of 19. You were 19 years old at the time. How old was he? He was two years older, 21 at that time. Yeah. Babies. Yeah. Of course we were. My parents were also

19 and 20 when they got married and just so hard to even fathom. Yeah. But I guess it was common. It was common at that time. What was it like? Oh, much more common, although it was still considered young. What was it like to be married at that young at that age? it was great. We moved immediately to New York City. He had graduated from school and was working for General Motors and their headquarters were in New York. So me, I thought, New York, this could not be better. And so we went to New York and we lived there for about three or four years. Had no money. It was very expensive and we had no money. But it wasn't bad. It made it happen. Huh? In Manhattan?

Yeah, we made it happen. We lived in Manhattan. I remember. General Motors people told him, oh, just look on the Upper East Side. You'll find something. Well, that was the most expensive area of New York. No, we lived in Queens, and as far out as it took, to find an apartment we could afford.

Yeah. Queens is expensive these days. Yeah. While living in New York City, then you moved to Connecticut, and then had all three kids, Mike was born in New York Okay

And Katie was almost born in New York But then the third child was born in Connecticut Yeah So you had three kids And you decided to return to college And finish your degree at Sarah Lawrence College Right How did you juggle all of that

Well you're young, that helps You just did it You know and you had more energy And a determination There was no way I was not going to finish that degree What was your degree? History.

History. And my first year was at Mary Washington because I couldn't go to UVA. Right. So I did my year of school there, and then we moved to New York, and then I finished at Sarah Lawrence. Your husband, Frank, must have been very supportive. He was, and I'd give him credit for that not enough, because I remember it was Sarah Lawrence was expensive and he said this is important we'll figure it out yeah that's incredible so the next part is hard to talk about so your kids grew up and moved away

you and Frank decided to move to Virginia sorry Larry you and Larry decided to move to Bath County you bought a 165 acre farm two weeks after moving to Bath County your husband was killed in a tragic accident. A horrible tragedy, but a remarkable mirrored experience of your grandmothers. Yeah, I know. And was that that probably got me through? Maybe I mentioned this before,

knowing that she had survived. I felt maybe I could. Well, I don't understand how. Two weeks, you're on a 165-acre farm by yourself. An hour from a grocery store. from a grocery store. I mean, that's the incredible strength of draw. It was, well, I wanted that farm too.

And so I think, as we considered it and all the potential of one of us not surviving, never crossed our minds. I was 55 and he was 57. So you're still at the age where you think you can do anything. And so I did. I stayed. And I made friends that were just fabulous.

And Bath County is, I call it a, oh, it's, it doesn't matter, I'm not going to come up with the word, but it is a special, special place. And I just dug in my feet. and learned to shoot. You're going to laugh at me, but I was told by a friend there, Gene, you need to learn to shoot. Never held a gun in my life.

And you need to do that because there are rabbit animals and whatever, and you need to be, and you're here alone. Okay, so I learned to shoot, and I loved shooting. Where did you go buy the gun?

Oh, you buy it at a store. I can only imagine you showing up to the store. Well, I didn't go alone. I had a friend who went with me, but I bought what was called a 22 Hornet. We had a terrible groundhog problem. And if you're, what groundhogs dig tunnels, and they had been, the farm had been empty for a couple of years,

and they had taken over. And underneath the main barn were tront tunnels that were eventually, I don't know if it could have made the, barn fall, I don't know, but I took advice from people who said, you need to get rid of groundhogs. So I learned that, oh my goodness, I killed 44 one summer. Wow. And 43 the next summer. And at that time, it was an executive recruiter.

And I'd be talking to people really all over the country, all over the world. I'd be on the phone saying, you know, talking about what we were discussing. but then my secretary would buzz in my ear, Groundhog. And so I would immediately put the person on the phone on hold, and then I would lift up the window very quietly and then get my gun from under my seat, and I would shoot the Groundhog. And I got to be really good at that.

I'm sorry? I said, I guess so, if you killed you. 43? Yeah, 44 one summer and 43 the next summer. So, yeah, I was called Annie Oakley. And I just kept going, kind of like, you got to do this. And then, but I didn't like looking at a dead animal. And you had to get them out of the barnyard, the carcass. So I would take a big spade that I have and not look at the animal, but scoot the spade under the animal and schlep it all the way across the barnyard and then flip it over the fence

and then the vultures would take care of them. I learned a lot when I lived in that, I mean. Sounds like it. So after your husband passed away, you mentioned you were an executive recruiter. Yeah. So you kind of learned how to chew first and then also started your own business. Yeah, no, that was my business.

As an executive career. I'm sorry, I didn't make that clear. Yeah, I had started that business prior to Larry's death. Okay. We had. And then when he died, I had to keep it going. And so that's what. And you grew that business?

Oh, yeah. For the next 20 years. It was very good. I really love talking to people. Could you tell? And I really enjoyed. People are interesting, unfailingly interesting. And when you think you've got what you need to know,

you find out you're not even close. Everybody's got a unique story. They do. They do. And people that I talked to all over the country and some in Europe. and those were the years of sending jobs to China. I don't know those of you who weren't directly involved. We were sending jobs to China, and I was one of the people sending.

Oh, wow. How many employees did you have? Four at one time, but never more than that. And usually three, sometimes two. It depended. So after 20 years, you made the decision to sell the farm. You can only imagine how difficult that decision must have been. Well, by that time, my staff had left because I closed the business, and I was running the farm on my own.

I had a farm manager, but he wasn't living on the property, and so he wasn't on the property that often. And I feared my trying to get something off a roof somewhere, I would fall, and nobody would know it. Yeah. And I thought, this is getting to the point. And I forget how old I was, but I was old. And I shouldn't have been doing that, not on the roof. So I just said I got to sell the farm, and I've got to move to Charlottesville, which was always a long-term goal. Yeah.

So you moved to the big city from Bath County. Yeah, right. I moved to downtown Charlottesville. Yeah. How did you enjoy it? I really liked it. It worked very well for me. Like being downtown.

It was near the downtown mall. and I could walk everywhere and made a lot of new friends. That was good. So you've continued to keep learning and progressing in your life. You still study French to this day. Oh, I know. I'm a Francophile. So I'm in France as much as I can be there. But all of that required learning the language.

And I'd like to say that all has been absolutely proven. my friend is still lousy, but I still love France and I still study. I'm sure it's better than you. Then you give yourself credit for. So after living in Seaville in downtown Seaville for a while, you started to think about the next step, which ended up being Martha Jefferson House. Yes. Why did you land on Martha Jefferson House? Well, while I was living in downtown Charlottesville, I went to Martha Jefferson.

has to see a friend who was there. And I was just immediately caught by its building. I just love that building, and I love how it's arranged, and I love the way the rooms and everything are. When you live at Martha Jefferson House, you're living with a family. Not only the residents, the other residents, but also the staff. I mean, it's like a big family. And everybody helps everybody else.

And everyone else. One thing I do want to say is you walk down the hall and you encounter someone who's come from the other way. Unfailingly, they say, hey, how you doing? And smile. I've never been in a place where that is so frequent and so real. It's just amazing. So I love that. And I felt that that one time I went to visit, believe it or not, so it was always in my head, and about five years later, I was quite sick,

and thought maybe this is the time took my daughters to see Martha Jefferson House, and they both said, upon leaving, can we come to? So it was just amazing. And that's why when I needed more care than I could get at home, and boy, I'm telling you, you need a lot sometimes. So all I say to people is, don't wait, go look at these places. They'll tour you all around. And they want you to know about their homes, and you get a real sense. And even though you don't go then, you know where you're going to go.

You have a plan in place. Because it has the things that you think are important. Right. Well, you're in great health now. You just went travel to Paris this past summer, right? Yeah. Mm-hmm. So you don't have to be in bad health to move.

No, no, no, no. And after I went to visit again, I got very sick again. And all last year I was very, very sick. I was so grateful for Martha Jefferson. house. So I'm going to say it one more time. Don't wait. Go now, visit these places and just stick it in the back of your brain. That's what I needed to know. You are better at my job than I am. That's right. That's your job, isn't it? So some final questions. When you look back, how much of your life has been shaped by resilience?

Oh my gosh, yes. But it's the resilience I learned from other people that said you keep going even when you feel like you can't. I almost died last year. And my family just took care of me and Martha Jefferson House. But you just keep going. Yeah. I mean, what are the options? But you find you're stronger than you think you are.

Yeah. You were very strong. You've been through so much. what advice would you give to younger women today who are trying to navigate careers, families, purpose, and sometimes discrimination? You need to know who you are, what's important to you, and trust yourself.

I think so many of us go through life thinking there's an absolute perfect answer for any problem, that's not true. You may end up with a perfect solution, but it's not because you knew that. You just got to keep going. And I think of my grandmother, again, I mean, I remember, I'm an early rise, or always have been, and I'd get up in the morning on the farm.

Grandma was already up. She had made four pies, fried, I don't know how many chickens. They had workers on the farm at harvest time. And she had to feed them at lunch, and that included fried chicken and pies. And, excuse me, and she did it. And it was hot. It was always hot in Kansas in the summer. Yeah.

And she was out there cooking, and I thought, you know, that's hard work, and it's her resilience. And she had a great sense of humor. I mean, we were always laughing. That's incredible. Well, Gene, thank you so much. Thank you, Mark. It's been fun. That's awesome.

So my name is Mark Hunt. This is a life unedited, a podcast where we get to sit down and hear incredible stories like Gene House. Thank you so much. Thank you.