Jeanne Roblez Howell, 64, a Verde Valley School 11th- and 12th-grade math teacher who had been with the school since 2014, was found dead in Bryce Canyon National Park in southern Utah.
Park staff received a report at 7 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 25, that Howell was overdue to return from her 2 p.m. hike on the Fairyland Loop trail.
“A search of the area was conducted in cooperation with the Garfield County Sheriff’s office and the Utah Department of Public Safety,” the National Park Service stated in a press release. “The body of Mrs. Howell was discovered at 1:30 a.m. on [Saturday] Aug. 26, within Campbell Canyon, approximately a mile east of the Fairyland Loop. She was pronounced deceased at the scene by a Garfield County medical examiner.”
NPS noted that heavy rain fell throughout the north end of the park on the afternoon Howell was hiking, which caused flash flooding in the washes along Fairyland Loop.
“The circumstances of the incident are similar to other fatalities involving flash floods,” NPS public information officer Peter Densmore said. “We just need the medical examiner’s report to establish an official cause of death.”
Densmore added that he did not have a timeline for the report by the Garfield County medical examiner to be completed and that no other injuries to Bryce Canyon visitors were reported during Friday’s rainstorm.
“She was the most positive, energetic, awesome person in our community,” VVS global goals program director Caroline Diehl said. “She biked to work practically every day. She [loved] hiking and beautiful scenery.”
VVS students were out on their Adventure Weekend campout at several sites across Northern Arizona, far away from Howell, who was hiking by herself.
“I just finished meeting with each of the groups as they came back from their trips to give them the news, so it’s an emotionally rocky time right now,” Head of School Ben Lee said on Sunday, Aug. 27. “She loved Bryce Canyon and went there all the time. This time she was by herself, which is not advisable. But she knew that place so well, because she went there all the time.”
“It’s tragic, it’s hard to believe,” Diehl said. “She [ran] our workshops and our coordinated sport signups. She just always had tons of energy, she [was] a kind, lovely human being. We’re going to miss her a lot, and [we] can’t even imagine her not here.”
“Jeanne knew she wanted to be a math teacher since 5th grade,” the VVS website said. “She [had] more than 30 years’ experience teaching the full range of high school math courses. She and her husband moved to the Village of Oak Creek from Johannesburg, South Africa, where she taught IB math for 4 years. Jeanne initiated a number of programs at her previous school to promote community, such as interhouse competitions, student and faculty talent shows, spirit week, parties and dances. Equally committed to fitness, she has successfully led both students and faculty to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro.”
Howell grew up in Utah and earned bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and psychology from the University of Utah, where she also met her future husband, Brian Howell. The couple married on Sept. 6. 1980. Brian went on to become a mining engineer.
“They lived all over the world and Jeanne actually started her teaching career when they were overseas,” Lee said. “They were several years in Papua New Guinea, and then they were in South Africa … Her husband retired from the mining industry and they moved here and Jeanne [was] unstoppable, just full of life [and] full of energy.”
“This is a tragic event, and our deepest sympathy goes out to the victim’s friends and family,” Allana Olbrich, acting Bryce Canyon superintendent, said in a press release. “I also want to express the park’s appreciation for the support we’ve received from the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office and the Utah Department of Public Safety.”
Howell’s family is planning a service at the VVS chapel, with the date and time to be determined.
