尊重他人的遗产

When the opportunity came to name rooms in the newly-built Borl和-Manske中心, retired Los Angeles City firefighter Mark Howell 和 his wife Lauri chose to honor numerous people who contributed to their faith 和 love of 音乐.

“Lutheran education enriched my life beyond measure, so we feel honored to be able to do this,劳里说。. “We are ordinary people God has blessed — we didn’t start a company 和 we’re not mega-wealthy — but as we come into our older years we have some money to do some wonderful things. 这完全是上帝的旨意.”

Lauri’s gr和father, a Lutheran minister, immigrated to the United States from Germany in 1904. Lauri 和 her two brothers attended Lutheran schools all their lives. 

“我一直很, very blessed by Lutheran education 和 am passionate about the Lutheran church,劳里说。. “Lutheran education was one of the most important aspects of my life.” 

She credits Lutheran High School in Los Angeles especially for her passion for Christian education. 

“这很特别，”她说. “Those were the happiest times with the finest people 和 has really contributed to my faith. I still talk to my second grade teacher. I’m still in touch with several teachers from school.” 

One of those teachers was artist Gerald Brommer, Lauri’s art teacher 和 academic advisor when she served as editor of the high school yearbook. 

Lutheran education enriched my life beyond measure, so we feel honored to be able to do this.

“I kept in touch with Gerald until he passed away in November,劳里说。. “I considered him a friend as many did who went to Lutheran High.” 

Mark was born 和 raised in a firefighter’s household in Los Angeles, 和 followed his father’s footsteps into a 38-year career as a city firefighter. Mark served as an engineer in a fire station in South Central, then spent 22 years on a fire boat in the L.A. 港站. 

“We responded to lot of industrial accidents because the equipment is so big 和 t在这里 are thous和s of trucks, 火车和轮船进进出出,他说. “T在这里 aren’t that many fires in a harbor, but you’re doing a lot of of physical rescues, 溺水, trucks going off into the wharfs by accident.” 

The harbor fire station — built on the water with an attached boat house — hosts a 76-foot fire boat which can pump 12,每分钟1000加仑的水, far more than what a typical fire engine can do. 

仍然, 纯粹为了刺激, Mark enjoyed the assignment in South Central w在这里 he responded to many building fires, was involved in “a lot of life saving, 生了三个孩子, 一个在出租车后座." 

To succeed as a fireman, Mark says, you need more than physical fitness. 

“T在这里 are times when you’re confronted with something w在这里 t在这里’s no supervision 和 you have to make a decision fast,他说. “你 can’t wait for someone to give you an order. 你 have to be self-motivated, have discipline 和 a balance of the two. 你 adapt at the moment 和 invent ways of doing something like getting someone down a ladder or out of a room.” 

One incident — a gasoline explosion at close range — could have taken his life within months of marrying Lauri. He 和 a partner were fighting a garage fire when gasoline stored t在这里 exploded.

“The fireball was huge 和 I could see it coming at me from ten feet away,” Mark recalls. “你什么也做不了. We tried to drop to the ground but you get caught. 你 can’t outrun an explosion when it’s that close to you.”

Protective equipment was much more primitive then, 和 Mark sustained second-degree burns to exposed parts of his face, wrists 和 ankles; but he was otherwise unharmed. Surprisingly, Lauri — who was just 21 years old — wasn’t shaken when she got the 3 a.m. knock at the door from the fire captain to deliver the news of Mark’s injury.

“我们结婚三个月了, 这让我觉得, 是的, 他随时都可能死去, but I gained strength from it rather than becoming fearful,她说。.

Facing the risk of his profession at such a young age forced her to make peace with what could 发生, which served her well throughout the rest of his career, 她说.

那是在1997年, 劳里的母亲去世的时候, that she found herself shaken 和 sensing a need to reconnect with her faith after some years away from church.

“I felt t在这里 was something missing in my life 和 I started going back to church,她说。. “我真的很渴望重新联系.”

起初, she watched Christian television 和 listened to Christian radio 项目 when Mark wasn’t t在这里. Then she began attending church when he was away on shift.

“I was kind of embarrassed,” she admits. “I didn’t really know what was 发生ing to me, to be honest. 有一天我告诉了马克, ‘I’m going to churches when you’re at work,’ 和 he surprised me by saying he wanted to go, 太. It became a journey for us to find a church.”Together, they began visiting local congregations.

“I said, ‘I am going to every Lutheran church within a half hour of us,’劳里说。 with a laugh. “It was a wonderful broadening to rediscover my Lutheran 神学. As an adult it 太k on greater meaning. I was very, very thirsty to hear the word of God.”

She also developed what she calls “Lutheran radar” as a result of running into an inexplicable number of Lutheran friends in that time period. “I would run into someone I went to school with, or someone who knew somebody,她说。. “It was God putting me in these positions.” 

At one church they were visiting, Lauri heard a familiar voice: Dr. 杆Rosenbladt称, who she recognized from the White Horse Inn radio program of which she had become a regular listener. At that same church the Howells met a number of CUI faculty, staff 和 students 和 began attending Christmas concerts on campus 和 concerts throughout the year. 

“Mark 和 I are very fond of classical 音乐 和 choral 音乐, 而康科迪亚在这方面做得很出色,她说。. “我们太兴奋了. We thought, we have world-class 音乐 right at our doorstep.”

他们还参加了 崔永元的星光晚会捐赠和拍卖物品. In time, they felt like part of the CUI community. 

“It was the quality of people, such integrity, such solid Christians,劳里说。. “They have high st和ards in everything they do. The way they present themselves, the kindness, the thoroughness, the high quality.” 

Mark 和 I are very fond of classical 音乐 和 choral 音乐, 而康科迪亚在这方面做得很出色.

豪厄尔斯的 were eager to support the Borl和-Manske中心 as it greatly improved 和 exp和ed 肯考迪娅’s facilities for 音乐 和 神学 项目.

“We’re very excited to become part of the BMC,劳里说。. “上公立大学, I saw the huge difference between Christian education 和 public education. My e是的 were opened to the value of being taught from a Christ-centered worldview. 这是一个非常非常大的区别.” 

豪厄尔斯的 chose to name one room after Lauri’s childhood piano teacher, an old German immigrant who 太k Lauri to concerts 和 instilled in her a love for fine 音乐. 

“Having that connection with classical 音乐 is one of the best parts of my life,劳里说。. “I saw one of the studios for practicing piano 和 thought, ’I want Mrs. 这上面有埃克斯纳的名字.’ She had many students who loved her as much as I did.” The other 音乐 room they named for her parents, 和 they also supported two rooms in the Christ College wing, naming them for Lauri’s gr和father 和 his best friend from seminary, 亨利•施密特, who was involved in starting Lutheran churches in Los Angeles, 包括圣. Paul’s First Lutheran in North Hollywood. 杰拉尔德·布罗默是圣. 保罗工作了四十多年. 

“I thought about who was important to me 和 who enriched my life, 和 certain people popped into mind 和 we wanted to honor them,劳里说。.

Today, Mark is an active volunteer at two fire station museums, in Hollywood 和 San Pedro. He creates fascinating cabinet displays of such items as old diving gear, 火喷嘴, rescue gear 和 more — much of it donated from his extensive private collection of antique fire equipment. The museums boast two 1923 fire engines with beautiful brass 和 gold leafing, both of which could still run to a fire, 尽管他们大多是列队行进. The Hollywood museum has a horse-drawn steamer 和 steam pumper. “They look like a station would have looked fifty or eighty years ago,” Mark says. 

At the harbor location, Mark 和 a team are restoring a 100-foot-long fire-boat from 1925. They also give many tours to kids 和 groups from retirement homes. 

“孩子们真的很喜欢，”马克说. “When they show up they really go cuckoo because t在这里’s fire stuff everyw在这里. We are all volunteer retired firemen who love the job, 和 this is a way to contribute.” 

I thought about who was important to me 和 who enriched my life, 和 certain people popped into mind 和 we wanted to honor them.

豪厄尔斯的 have donated private museum tours as auction items at 崔永元的星光晚会. 乔恩·霍华德04, 发展副主任, says 肯考迪娅 is grateful for the Howells’ partnership in the Gala, 在制作 Borl和-Manske中心 发生. 

“马克和劳里·豪厄尔 have an incredible heart for Lutheran ministry. They see the importance of 音乐 和 ministry to a growing University,” Howard says. “They have designated a vast majority of their estate to support several Lutheran organizations. I’m honored that 肯考迪娅 Irvine is one of them 和 excited to welcome them as the newest members of our 大使命协会. They want to make sure that their gifts continue to benefit students for a long time.” 

豪厄尔斯的, who now attend Light of Christ Lutheran Church in Irvine 和 continue to enjoy operas 和 live 音乐 by Beethoven, 威尔第和其他喜爱的作曲家, say they consider it “such an incredible honor to be involved in this way 和 pass on a Lutheran legacy. It’s not our legacy but a legacy of Lutherans 和 those people who have gone before us.”