Barbara Stephanye Howar (née Dearing; September 27, 1934 – August 2, 2024) was an American author and socialite.[1][2] She was the older sister of Charlsie Cantey.[3]
Howar was born Barbara Stephanye Dearing in Nashville, Tennessee on 27 September 1934 and grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. She was the second of three daughters of engineering-industry sales manager Charles Oscar Dearing and his wife Mary Elizabeth (née O’Connell) who was also known as Buffy.[3] She was a graduate of the Holton-Arms School and St. Mary's Junior College.[4] She was married to Edmond N. Howar from 1958 to their divorce in 1967.[3]
She wrote the 1973 memoir Laughing All the Way and the 1976 novel Making Ends Meet. Charlotte Curtis of The New York Times described the former as "delightful, gossipy, occasionally hilarious memoirs" of which the message was "how she managed to survive her own antics and enough personal recognition to choke a goat."[5] Writing for the same publication, Erica Jong compared Making Ends Meet with Howar's previous literary work as "equally well‐written but somehow less immediate and convincing" and that it "seems to lack narrative drive and a sense of purpose."[6] R.Z. Sheppard of TIME opined, "As a novelist, Howar seems to have learned a lot from old movies and talk shows. Her basic technique is the flashback and her keenest instinct is for the spiky remark."[7]
She was featured in an article in the 29 July 1966 issue of LIFE.[8] She died at her home in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 89.[9]
References
- ^ "Barbara Howar, whose hit memoir dished on D.C. society, dies at 89". The Washington Post. 2024-08-06.
- ^ "The Last of the Southern Girls". Garden & Gun. Retrieved 2025-01-09.
- ^ a b c Gates, Anita (2024-08-05). "Barbara Howar, Irreverent Memoirist of Washington Society, Dies at 89". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-01-09.
- ^ "Edmond Howar Fiance Of Barbara S. Dearing," The New York Times, Sunday 12 October 1958. Retrieved 2 January 2026.
- ^ Curtis, Charlotte. "Laughing All The Way; By Barbara Howar. 298 pp. New York: Stein and Day. $7.95," The New York Times Book Review, Sunday 20 May 1973. Retrieved 2 January 2026.
- ^ Jong, Erica. "Cherchez l'homme," The New York Times Book Review, Sunday 25 April 1976. Retrieved 2 January 2026.
- ^ Sheppard, R.Z. "Books: Valley of the Guys," TIME (magazine), 3 May 1976. Retrieved 8 January 2026.
- ^ "Here Comes, There Goes Barbara," LIFE (magazine), 29 July 1966. Retrieved 2 January 2026.
- ^ Times, Charlotte CurtisSpecial to The New York (1973-05-20). "Laughing All The Way;By Barbara Howar. 298 pp. New York: Stein and Day.$7.95". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-01-09.
 | This article about a United States writer of non-fiction is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information. |
