George Arrington Howerton Jr., 79, a lifelong resident of Suffolk, died Friday, Jan. 23, 2004, in Nags Head, N.C.

Mr. Howerton was the son of the late George Arrington Howerton Sr., and Julia Marlow Howell Howerton, and the widower of Catherine Callis Howerton.

He was a member of Main Street United Methodist Church, where in earlier years he served on the Board of Stewards and sang in the choir. In his younger years, he was a scoutmaster, a member of the Kiwanis Club, and was one of the founders and the first president of the Suffolk Cotillion Club.

He had retired as senior vice president of Southern Salt Co. Inc. in Norfolk, and vice president of Norfolk Warehouse Distributing Co., Inc. Prior to that he had been president of Miller Peanut Co., Inc. of Virginia, a subsidiary of Kelling Nut Co. of Chicago, president of Virginia Peanut Co. of Zuni, and vice president of Zuni Storage Corp.

After his retirement he was appointed to the Suffolk Planning Commission and as well, worked on various civic projects in the Lakeside area of Suffolk.

He is survived by a sister, Kathryn H. Pittman of Franklin; son, George A. Howerton III of Norfolk; daughter, Linda H. Harper, and her husband, Thomas R. Harper; grandsons, Thomas R. Harper Jr., and his wife, Tami, and Britt Collis Harper; great-granddaughter, Drew Catherine Harper, all of Nags Head; brother-in-law, Linwood B. Callis Jr., and his wife, Martha J. Callis, of Suffolk.

The funeral will be conducted at 1 p.m. Monday in the R.W. Baker and Co. Funeral Home & Crematory by the Rev. Becky W. Gwaltney and the Rev. Robert J. Parks Jr. Burial will be in Cedar Hill Cemetery.

The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday in the funeral home.