George Alvin Howard BiographyGeorge Alvin Howard
Nom de plume – “Cheap George”
Davie County Folk Artist
George Alvin Howard is known by most people as Alvin. He was born July 17, 1931 in
Lewisville, NC. His father was John Brack Howard and Alvin’s mother, Emma, died shortly after
Alvin was born. Not born in a hospital, Alvin was helped into the world by a midwife. Like many
families who endured the hardships of the Depression, Alvin’s birth father was not able to care
for his large family. Alvin was raised by his uncle Louie and his wife, Betty Howard who were
local tobacco and cotton farmers often selling chickens and eggs at curb markets. To this day,
Alvin considers his ‘second’ family as his true family, stating they were ‘wonderful’. Alvin served
two years in the Army during the Korean War. He eventually married and was employed at
Celanese from which he retired after 21 years. Alvin and his wife, Annie Ruth, were married for
57 years until she passed away in 2016. He and Annie Ruth have been members of Fork
Baptist Church for over 50 years. He still lives in the house they built in 1960.
The Howards had two children together, Scott and Tim. Scott is married (Melissa) and has two
daughters, Zooey (14) and Sophia (12). They live in Los Angeles, CA where Scott works as an
executive chef in Beverly Hills. Tim is married and lives with his wife Vivian, in Greensboro. Tim
is a Civil War buff.
Alvin Howard has been drawing since childhood. He is self-taught and has never had formal
training. He became more serious about his artistic skills during the 1990’s. At one point, he did
try being a ‘street artist’ but found this to be non-profitable. However, drawing and art have
been rewarding hobbies. For most of his 87 years, Alvin has given away most of the pictures he
has drawn. Occasionally he sells 11” x 17” prints for $10 each. It is difficult to find Alvin’s
originals but he says a few do remain within his family or with very close friends. He has always
loved caricatures with most of his drawings being done in this style. He has worked in many
mediums including charcoal, Prismacolor pencil and acrylic paint.
Having a photographic memory, Alvin prefers creating drawings of the many people and places
from his life in Davie County. He has several different drawings all featuring the Princess
Theater which was the only movie house in Mocksville when he was a boy. Alvin says he was
lucky enough to go to the movies every Saturday where he loved watching Lone Ranger serials.
His drawings depict different movie posters of the times; young Alvin waiting in line to buy his
movie ticket, high school friends, classmates and often unique local characters, like Rod
Hussey, who walked around town daily soaking in the latest gossip and activities. Ol’ Rod can
be seen in many of Alvin’s drawings usually in the foreground, walking with a cane or carrying a
lantern, often with his face turned away from the ‘viewer’.
Alvin thinks his first great drawing was of famed country superstar, Glen Campbell but has great
affection for his drawing, Bull Durham (smoking tobacco) which once hung in Haywood
Hendricks store. Alvin was always attracted to advertising posters like those of Lucky Strike
cigarettes and Royal Crown cola. Other ‘portrait’ drawings include U.S. presidents, Franklin D.
Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and others. One of his most popular
drawings is of legendary NASCAR driver, Dale Earnhardt, Sr. In addition to drawing, Alvin
enjoys reading histories of events that have occurred during his lifetime such as The Great
Depression, The Cold War, and World War II. Alvin is a big fan of classic movies.
The Martin-Wall Local History Room located in the Davie County Public Library maintains a
portfolio of many samples of Alvin Howard’s art which can be viewed by the public anytime
during regular library hours.