Howard Lee Grant-1/27/1941-7/26/2024.
Howard Lee was born in Russellville, Alabama to Howard Cawthon and Mary Frances Grant. Howard attended Russellville High School and was very active in the high school band playing the trumpet and writing for both the high school newspaper and the Franklin County Times.
After graduating high school, Howard Lee attended the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, where he met and married his college sweetheart, Sara Ann Smith Grant. Howard Lee and Sara Ann were married in June of 1962 and were married 48 years until Sara Ann’s passing in 2011.
Howard Lee developed a life long love for photography, ham/2-Way radios, airplanes and flying. Howard Lee communicated with people from all over the world with his love of radios. His love of photography landed him a job at an early age as a sports journalist covering The University of Alabama Football for the Birmingham News and later as a journalist for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution . His love of flying brought many rewarding journeys from being a private pilot, a commercial pilot and later a flight instructor.
Howard Lee and Sara Ann moved to Albertville, Alabama in the middle 1960s, where Howard Lee helped build the first cable TV service for the Sand Mountain area and Sara Ann taught school at Evan’s Elementary. Marshall County was Howard’s final destination, living in Guntersville until his passing.
He is survived by his two daughters, Sara Kirby Rutland ( Mike) , Kendrah Lee Raney (Jim), two grandsons, Robert Michael Rutland III, Grant Starnes Rutland, two great grandchildren, RM Rutland and Charlotte Rutland, along with a few cousins.
There will be a private, family burial in Russellville. In memory of Howard Lee, donations may be made to St. Jude Children’s Hospital or The 2nd Chance Shelter where he rescued multiple best friends over the years.
