Kevin Howard OAM
Corryong Ambassador
Kevin Howard OAM JP was born in Bairnsdale and educated at St Mary’s Primary School before attending St Patrick’s College Sale where he matriculated in 1950.
On completion of teacher training at Melbourne Teachers College he taught in small rural schools before transferring to the specialist field of Audio Visual Education, in Wangaratta, where he was the Teacher in Charge of the Audio Visual Education Centre for 25 years.
He was a Councillor of the City of Wangaratta for 9 years serving three terms as Mayor.
In Wangaratta he has been chairman of many local committees including the Wangaratta Indoor Sports Stadium (10 years) The Salvation Army Red Shield Appeal (5 Years) and the Holy Trinity Cathedral “Appeal of the Eight Bells”. He recently retired as chairman of Our Lady’s South Wangaratta Catholic Parish and is the author of “From Paddock to Parish”, the story of the first fifty years of the Parish.
He is a member of the Wangaratta Fire Brigade and was Brigade Secretary for 12 years and Group Communications Officer for 15 years. He is a Life Member of the Brigade and the recipient of the Victorian Urban Fire Brigades Gold Star.
Kevin was the foundation Executive Officer and later Deputy Chairman and Chairman of the North East Tourist Authority. He was also a member of a Ministerial Transport Advisory Committee under the Hamer and Thompson Governments.
He is a former Bail Justice and is still a Justice of the Peace
From 1994 to 1997 Kevin was Chairman of Commissioners of the newly created Alpine Shire based in Bright.
In 1997 he took up a position as Principal Consultant, Local Government and Regional Development with IER Pty Ltd. He retired from IER in 2005.
He was Wangaratta Citizen of the Year in 1988 and was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 1999. He is also a recipient of a National Medal with Bar.
Kevin is currently Deputy Chairman - Country of the Victoria State Branch Committee of the Order of Australia Association. In this position he is responsible for the function and development of Regional Groups of the Association throughout Victoria. He is also Deputy Chairman of the Goulburn Valley and North East Victoria Regional Group of the Association.
He is also the current Secretary of the Wangaratta RSL Sub-Branch. From 2007 to 2010 he was President of St Patrick’s College Sale, Old Collegians Association.In his younger days he excelled at athletics, football and waterskiing.Kevin has been married to Margaret for 52 years. They have 6 children, 23 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren.