Joan Singer Howell, a political activist and supporter of the arts, died of ovarian cancer Wednesday at Florida Hospital in Orlando. The former Glen Arm resident was 65.
She was born Joan Singer in Baltimore and raised on Forest Drive in Catonsville. She was a 1955 graduate of Catonsville High School and attended the Maryland Institute College of Art, where she studied fashion design and pattern drafting.
Mrs. Howell worked with her father, who founded Kustom Klothes, a Catonsville company that specializes in custom-made nursing uniforms.
She was married in 1957 to Richard A. Howell, a Martin-Marietta Corp. mechanical engineer, who survives her.
The couple moved to Maitland, Fla., in 1969 after Mr. Howell was transferred to the company's Orlando facility.
Mrs. Howell, who became active in Democratic politics, worked on the campaigns of U.S. Sens. Bob Graham and Bill Nelson. In 1974, she managed her husband's successful campaign for a seat on the Maitland City Council.
A supporter of the arts, Mrs. Howell was an active member of the Cornell Fine Arts Museum, the Civic Theater Guild, Maitland Art Center, Orlando Museum of Art and volunteered at the Edyth Bush Theater in Orlando.
After ovarian cancer was diagnosed in 1997, Mrs. Howell became an active member of the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance and lobbied for the organization in Washington.
Mrs. Howell enjoyed playing bridge, fishing and going to the beach.
She was a communicant of St. Margaret Mary Roman Catholic Church in Winter Park, Fla., where a Mass of Christian burial will be offered Thursday .
Besides her husband, Mrs. Howell is survived by three daughters, Laura H. Stark, Felicia A. Kennedy and Wendy L. Gasparri, all of Winter Park, Fla.; four brothers, Jim Singer of Westminster, Jerry Singer of Hanover, Pa., and Jordan Singer and Jeffrey Singer, both of Catonsville; a sister, Judy Hanft of Baltimore; and six grandchildren.
