Family Members

  • Dr. Ralph L. Howell was born on May 2, 1960 in Suffolk, Va. He is the son of Dr. R. Leroy Howell and Martha Glenn Howell. He attended the Lower and Upper Schools at Nansemond-Suffolk Academy and graduated in 1978. He entered the College of William & Mary in the fall of 1978 and graduated in 1982 with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry. He entered the Medical College of Virginia School of Dentistry in the fall of 1985 and graduated in 1989 with a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree. Following graduation he joined his father in the practice of general dentistry in Suffolk. He has offices in the downtown area of Suffolk and the Harborview area of Suffolk. He is a member of the Tidewater Dental Association, the Virginia Dental Association and the American Dental Association. He has served as President of the Tidewater Dental Association, the Virginia Dental Association and is a member of the House of Delegates of the American Dental Association. He is a member of the Pierre Fauchard Academy and the Academy of General Dentistry. He is a Fellow of the Virginia Dental Association, the International College of Dentists and the American College of Dentists.

  • Dr. Virgil Howell was born on February 22, 1934 in Southampton County, Va.   He was the son of Parker D. Howell and Mattie Carr Howell. He attended Chuckatuck Elementary School and graduated from Chuckatuck High School in 1952. He entered Benjamin Franklin University in Washington, D.C. and received an Associate Degree in Business Administration. After graduation he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served most of his two years of active duty in Karlsruhe, Germany as a part of the Army of Occupation-Europe. After discharge from the U.S. Army he entered Elon College. Once he had completed the required courses necessary for admission, he entered the Medical College of Virginia School of Dentistry in the fall of 1959. He graduated from MCV in 1963 with a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree. He practiced general dentistry in Norfolk, Va. until he retired in 1992. He was a member of the Tidewater Dental Association, the Virginia Dental Association and the American Dental Association. During his retirement years he spent most of his time in Kitty Hawk, N.C. and Warm Springs, Va. He returned to Suffolk in the summer of 2002 and was one of the first residents of Lake Prince Woods Retirement Community in Suffolk, Va. He died on April 30, 2003.

  • Dr. R. Leroy Howell was born on September 18, 1930 in Southampton County, Va. He is the son of Parker D. Howell and Mattie Carr Howell. He attended Chuckatuck Elementary School and graduated from Chuckatuck High School in 1947. He entered Elon College and graduated in 1951 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in chemistry. He then entered the Medical College of Virginia School of Dentistry and graduated in 1955 with a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree. After an Internship in the Department of Oral Surgery at MCV he entered the military as a Captain in the U.S. Army Dental Corps. He served two years of active duty as a Dental Officer at Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas and at Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina. After serving six years in the active reserve he was discharged as a Major, Dental Corps, U.S. Army Reserve. He has practiced general dentistry in Suffolk, Va. since the fall of 1958 (for over 50 years) and is still actively practicing. He is a member of the Tidewater Dental Association, the Virginia Dental Association and the American Dental Association. He served as President of the Tidewater Dental Association and is a Fellow of the Virginia Dental Association, the International College of Dentists and the American College of Dentists.

  • Dr. Matthew James Howell was born on July 19, 1927 in Southampton County, Va. He is the son of Parker D. Howell and Mattie Carr Howell and was better known by the nicknames of Tom and Tommy. He attended Chuckatuck Elementary School and graduated from Chuckatuck High School in 1945. He then enlisted in the U.S. Navy and spent most of his time as a corpsman at the U.S. Navy Hospital in Portsmouth, Va. He entered Elon College in the spring of 1947 and graduated in 1950 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in chemistry. He worked as a chemist with the DuPont Corporation in Camden, South Carolina until the fall of 1955 when he entered the Medical College of Virginia School of Dentistry. He graduated from MCV in 1959 with a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree. He practiced general dentistry in Portsmouth, Va. until he retired in 1999. He was a member of the Tidewater Dental Association, the Virginia Dental Association and the American Dental Association.