Howard Mitchell McCain

Howard Mitchell McCain, Jr., 90, of Lafayette, Louisiana, passed away peacefully. He was born on August 5, 1935 in Cleveland, Mississippi to Marguerite Lucille Dennis McCain and Howard Mitchell McCain, Sr.

Howard grew up in Cleveland, MS, spending his early years on North Fourth Avenue before his family moved to their sixty-acre farm four miles north of town in 1941, where cotton fields and a pecan and apple orchard shaped the landscape of his boyhood. He attended kindergarten at the Demonstration School on the campus of Delta State Teachers College and later graduated from Cleveland High School in May 1953.

A man of remarkable intellect and drive, Howard earned a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Mississippi State University in May 1957, followed by a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Southern Mississippi in May 1962. He was a member of the ATO Fraternity at Southern Miss. He held registrations as a Licensed Professional Civil Engineer and Professional Land Surveyor in both Mississippi and Louisiana.

Howard served his country with distinction as a First Lieutenant in the United States Army Combat Engineers, completing the Engineers Basic Course at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, before being assigned to the 249th Combat Engineer Battalion stationed in Kaiserslautern, Germany. He served as a Platoon Leader in Germany and France, attaining the rank of First Lieutenant before concluding his active duty service in January 1960.

His professional career was distinguished and wide-ranging. He began as a Project Engineer with E.I. DuPont at their Washington Works Plant in Parkersburg, West Virginia in 1957, then served as Assistant City Engineer in Greenwood, Mississippi. He went on to a rewarding career with Exxon Corporation (then Esso), rising from Construction and Maintenance Engineer in Jackson, Mississippi, to New Programs Manager in Memphis, Tennessee, and later Senior Construction and Maintenance Engineer in the Shreveport, Louisiana District.

An entrepreneur at heart, Howard purchased St. Romain Pump Service in January 1970, a company serving the petroleum industry throughout Louisiana with offices in Mansura and Alexandria. After selling the business in 1977, he served as Senior Civil Engineer with a Civil Engineering Consulting firm before accepting his final and perhaps most distinguished public role: City Engineer of Lafayette, Louisiana, beginning in the spring of 1978.

He is survived by his former wife, Carolyn Jean Huff McCain; his son, Dennis Mitchell McCain; his daughter, Bonney Lee McCain Hubbard; his son, James Allen McCain; his brother, Michael Lee McCain; and other loving family members. He was preceded in death by his parents, Howard Mitchell McCain, Sr. and Marguerite Lucille Dennis McCain.

Howard Mitchell McCain, Jr. lived a life defined by curiosity, hard work, service, and an adventurous spirit from the cotton fields of the Mississippi Delta to the halls of government in Lafayette, Louisiana. His family asks that his memory be honored by those whose lives he touched.

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