The Howell Family consists of Bobbi & Chris, and their children, Jake (age 26) and his wife, Ashley, and daughter, Lily (9 months), Eric (age 24) and Daniel (age 18).  Bobbi is a partner with Foley & Lardner where she serves as the co-chair of the firm’s Distribution & Franchise practice, Chris is an owner and the CEO of Techmaster Inc., an automation distributor, and Daniel is a senior at Stoughton High School; he’ll be a freshman at UW Madison in the fall.  Eric is a 2016 graduate of the UW Madison Biomedical Engineering program and is currentlya Anesthesia Technical Services coordinatorat Epic Systems.  Jake is a 2013 graduate of Arizona State University in Mechanical Engineering and lives in the Buffalo New York area where he is working as aContinuous Improvement Engineerwith Cobham, PLLC.

The Howells became involved with JDRF in early 2001 shortly after Daniel was diagnosed with T1D at the age of 2, by joining a Walk to Cure Team at Foley.  That involvement continued with the diagnosis of Eric two years later at the age of 9.  Bobbi’s mom also has had type 1 since the mid-1970s.  Since that first walk team, the Howells have been involved in every aspect of JDRF activities.  Bobbi has served on the board of the Western Wisconsin chapter since 2013, having previously served from 2006-12, with the last two years as chapter president.  She is the Ambassador’s Circle (former board members) chair and a member of the nominating committee, and has served on the corporate development committee and as major donor chair.  Chris and the boys have all been active participants in the Western Wisconsin chapter Ride team, the Honey Badgers – Chris is a coach this year and also coached in 2014; and he’s ridden in Death Valley (4 times), La Crosse (4 times) and Amelia Island (1 time).  This year’s Ride at Amelia Island will be his 10^th.  Jake rode Death Valley twice, the 1^sttime on his 14^thbirthday.  Eric has done 5 rides (Death Valley twice, La Crosse twice and Amelia Island once) and was the recipient of the coveted Polka Dot jersey for embodying the Spirit of the Ride in Death Valley when he was 14.  Daniel has done one Ride (La Crosse) and Bobbi and the boy(s) not riding worked the Ride aid stations for each of those outings.  Chris has been one of the organizers of the annual golf outing benefitting the chapterfor several yearsand he and the boys have been regular participants in that and other golf outings benefitting JDRF.   Eric and Daniel assisted with Camp Endeavor, now known asT1D Kids Day, the chapter’s one-day camp for T1D kids and their families.  The Howells have attended every Madison Gala but one since they became involved with JDRF (they missed the year of the tornadoes!) and were proud to be at the inaugural La Crosse Gala in 2014.  They’re looking forward to this year’s Gala and hope to see all of you there!  As much fun, and as many lifelong friendships as they’ve made through JDRF, though, what they’re looking forward to most is the day when JDRF is out of business and we really do have a world without T1D.  Help us make it happen!

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