Scores filled First Presbyterian Church on Tuesday to say farewell to Jim Howland in a ceremony fitting of the man: simple, straightforward and full of friends.

The Rev. John Dennis, former minister at First Presbyterian, remembered Howland as someone who was always well-liked and well-received, for a reason.

“He related to us at our best and made it happen,” Dennis said.

Howland, the last living co-founder of CH2M Hill, died Aug. 29 from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. He was 92.

Howland was chairman of the international construction and engineering design company for 30 years and founded the firm in 1946 along with Holly Cornell and Burke Hayes, both fellow Oregon State University graduates, and former professor Fred Merryfield.

Dennis said Howland’s concentration was key to his success on the tennis court and other endeavors.

“Nothing got past him,” Dennis said. “That was true for the rest of his life. Nothing got past this man.”

After retirement, Howland was known for philanthropy and activism along with his wife, Ruth. They were key members of the Madison Avenue Task Force, which aimed to create a link from the OSU campus to downtown.

Daughter Joyce Howland said her father’s professional and community work was very much a family effort.

“He loved people,” she said. “The thing we have to remember was that mother made it possible, with four children underfoot.”

Joyce Howland described a supportive father who loved to advertise his visiting children to neighbors with flags crafted for each of them, and flown outside the Howland residence.

As spouses were added to the family, so grew the collection of standards.

“Those flags would be flying when you came home,” she said.

As a young boy, grandson Ben Fernandes said, he spent many days visiting Corvallis and noting people treating his grandpa with “deference and respect.”

“You could tell people responded to him that way not because of some position he held in the past or the present, but because of the way he treated them.” Fernandes said.

Matt Neznanski can be reached at 758-9518 or matt.neznanski@lee.net.