Kasson’s Kyle Howell has traveled the world

Kyle Howell grew up with two brothers and a sister in Appleton, Wis., a city of just under 75,000 located in northeastern Wisconsin and once named “Sports City USA” by Sports Illustrated, and the home of Lawrence University.  
Appleton is located on the Fox River 30 miles southwest of Green Bay and Lambeau Field. During Kyle’s youth, the paper industry reigned king in Fox River valley with multiple paper mills lining the banks of the Fox River. Some companies that called Appleton home during Kyle’s childhood included Pierce Manufacturing (Oshkosh Corporation), Miller Electric, JanSport (VF Corporation, Greensboro, N.C.), Aid Association for Lutherans (Thrivent), Mills Fleet Farm, and Boldt Construction which now even has a field office in Rochester. Appleton is also known for the first hydroelectric station and the first electric cable car in America. Appleton’s famous residents include magician Harry Houdini, actor Willem Dafoe, former New York Yankee and broadcaster, Tony Kubek, Senator Joseph McCarthy, Iwo Jima flag-raiser John Bradley, and Vietnam combat veteran and Super Bowl champion Rocky Bleier who played college football at Notre Dame and professionally for the Pittsburgh Steelers. 
So yes, Kyle is a Packer fan though it wasn’t always that way. During the lean Packer years of the 1970s, Kyle gravitated to Rocky Bleier and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Kyle remembers receiving a Christmas gift from his grandparents of a hooded Green Bay Packers jacket just like the players were seen wearing on the sidelines.
Kyle said the Packers were so bad during his youth that he was too embarrassed to wear his Christmas gift so the jacket hung in the family basement until eventually being sold at a garage sale. In Hindsight, Kyle admits someone got a pretty good deal!
Kyle did eventually see the light and started supporting the Packers though never attending a game at Lambeau Field until the December 31, 1994 playoff against the Detroit Lions. Kyle and three others, several weeks prior to the game, purchased tickets from what was thought to be a trusted third party in order to attend the first Packer home playoff game in years.
The game day started the way every Packer game day should start and that is with tailgating. Once the pregame festivities concluded, Kyle and his group found their way to their seats located in the last row of the north end zone of Lambeau Field. Not long after taking their seats, another group of people stopped at the seats Kyle and his group were sitting in and indicated they had tickets for the same seats. Shortly thereafter, security personnel was summoned. Tickets were checked and it was discovered Kyle and his group had fraudulent tickets. The security officer told Kyle and his group that he could kick them out of the stadium or find them the next best available seats since they were already in the stadium. They opted for the best available seats.
Before long Kyle and his group were walked to the sidelines right next to the Detroit Lions bench. Kyle remembers standing next to NFL Hall of Fame running back Barry Sanders during the game. What a way to see your first Packer game at Lambeau Field. Definitely a game memory for Kyle that will never be matched.
Though Kyle ran track and cross country in junior high school, he admits, outright, that he had no natural athletic ability and therefore, at an early age decided to focus on academics as there was no hope to play professional sports.
Wanting to be a veterinarian, Kyle focused on universities that would provide him the best opportunity to pursue his dreams at that time. Though the University of Wisconsin-Madison had a School of Veterinary Medicine and was located in Kyle’s home state Kyle’s parents highly discouraged him from applying to the University of Wisconsin-Madison as it was deemed one of the top party schools in America and to the best of Kyle’s knowledge still is.
Kyle’s parents both attended college in Wisconsin. His father attended and played basketball at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and his mother attended the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Kyle had different ideas than attending his parent’s alma maters and narrowed his choices to the University of Kentucky and Purdue University after attending a Presbyterian youth event at Purdue during high school. Kyle’s final decision to attend Purdue was based on his acceptance letter to the university, a letter he still has today and one he uses for self-motivation.  A letter that stated though accepted to Purdue University, the university had concerns regarding his poor entrance exam score.
Kyle took that as a challenge and graduated from the School of Agriculture with a degree in Natural Resources and Environmental Science with honors. Though Kyle had all intentions of becoming a veterinarian in high school, his love for chemistry and other sciences took him down another path, one he does not regret. 
During Kyle’s tenure at Purdue, one of his professors highly encouraged him to take part in Purdue’s study abroad program, especially in the Hungarian program in which he was involved. After several years of asking, Kyle gave in and applied to the Hungarian program at Gödöllo University of Agricultural Sciences in Gödöllo, Hungary despite his parent’s concerns.
In January 1995, Kyle began his first international trip by boarding his flight from Appleton, to Detroit. Kyle remembers on the day of departure, the temperatures were above normal and ground visibility was reduced due to fog. Things only deteriorated during the flight to Detroit. Upon landing in Detroit, international flights were starting to be canceled including Kyle’s flight to Europe. Kyle was given the opportunity to get out of Detroit on one of the last international flights departing due to the fog. Kyle, never being out of the country before and no longer following his original travel itinerary, was headed to Frankfurt, Germany by himself without his classmates who never got out of the Indianapolis International Airport from which they were departing. Eventually, Kyle did arrive alone in Budapest to a foreign country where he did not speak the language and was greeted at the customs by security with automatic weapons. Definitely an eye-opening experience for a new traveler.
Needless to say, Kyle’s classmates did arrive several days later, each group having their own adventures to share. While in Hungary Kyle had the opportunity to travel, spending much time in Budapest. He also had an opportunity to travel to Paris, the Beaches of Normandy, London, Vienna, Munich, and the Wieliczka Salt Mine in Wieliczka, Poland. however, Kyle says one of his most unforgettable destinations was to the Auschwitz concentration camp. A place he will never forget and never wants to return to again as the smell of death still filled the air.
Kyle’s visit to Hungary was not many years after the fall of the Iron Curtain so the younger people wanted to practice speaking English whenever possible rather than Russian or Hungarian. Kyle did eventually learn some Hungarian words so he could function in his new surroundings. Words that he would use again years later when visiting Hungary with his wife Jackie.
The most memorable moment for Kyle during his study abroad occurred during a trip, by train, from Budapest to Kiev, Ukraine. As most know, Ukraine was a part of the former Soviet Union. As a child growing up during the Cold War era Kyle always remembers seeing on the nightly news large weapon-wielding soldiers marching through Red Square during May Day celebrations.
When the train Kyle was traveling on entered Ukraine, at night, it was very clear where they were as the border was fully illuminated. Looking out the train window, Kyle remembers seeing tall guard towers, no man’s land (the killing fields), and large tall soldiers, as he had seen on television as a child, walking up and up and down the train platform. Definitely, dudes, you were not going to mess with, Kyle said. Before long, these large imposing soldiers were on the train cars checking passports and visas. Your paperwork was something you definitely wanted to have in order in fear of being pulled off the train and questioned. Kyle remembers this event as being a real eye-opening experience though the unique part of this broader crossing was not the imposing soldiers checking passports it was what was happening outside the train during our stop at the border. During the border stop, all the train cars were lifted and the wheels the train had been riding on were pulled out and new wider gauge wheels were placed under each car before being set down again. A new locomotive was put in place as well prior to continuing on to Kiev. This whole series of events was quite puzzling to Kyle until he learned that Ukraine uses a wider gauge railroad track compared to the West so that potential invading forces could not use their railroad tracks to transport weapons or troops.
When Kyle graduated from Purdue, he said it was hard to find a job so he returned to Appleton, taking a job at a local country club working on their golf course. After deciding that was not the career for him, he applied to graduate school at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and was accepted.  
With all intentions of studying limnology, lake ecology, he was offered an opportunity to work on a multi-university collaborative project called the Research on Ocean Atmospheric Variability and Ecosystem Response in the Ross Sea (ROAVERRS) funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Kyle thought he might as well take advantage of this opportunity as he would never get there on his own due to the expense.
In October 1998, Kyle boarded the RVIB Nathaniel B. Palmer in Christchurch, New Zealand to begin his Southern Ocean transit to the Ross Sea. Kyle said this transit was not for someone that gets seasick easily because you constantly felt you were on a roller coaster with waves as high as the wheelhouse. One memory Kyle has of the transit was watching the movie Titanic with his colleagues. 
“At some point during the movie, the captain of the Palmer yelled iceberg over the public address system and we all rushed to the bridge, and here illuminated by huge spotlights was a giant iceberg.”
Kyle remembers as the Palmer moved from open ocean to ice, the waves of the ocean were dampened by the ice creating a very calm environment for the ship to operate. Eventually, Kyle and his team did make it to the thick ice in the Ross Sea. Kyle said as the Palmer made its way through the ice it sounded like people with sledgehammers hitting the hull of the ship. He remembers it being very loud especially in the mess hall located at the bow of the ship. Kyle speculates the mess hall was put in the loudest part of the ship so that people would eat fast and get back to their research. Kyle’s graduate project entailed the study of algae and diatoms that overwintered in the sea ice.
His graduate project was to determine what limited their production in the ice during the winter as they were capable of photosynthesizing under extremely low light conditions. This project involved being hoisted over the side of the ship to drill and collect ice cores, sometimes two or three meters thick, by hand. Once collected, the ice was analyzed for nutrients, salinity, algae, and diatoms. To coincide with the ice collection, water samples were collected from the seafloor at the water surface as well.
At one point, Kyle remembers stopping at the Ross Ice Shelf at 2 a.m. when it was -40F and the sun was out making it look like 2 p.m. Another stop Kyle remembers is their stop at the Bay of Whales, the southernmost point of open ocean in the world, though not 100% sure due to old age and memory loss, Kyle believes this a point where he and his colleagues were once again able to get off the Palmer. It is here where Kyle was able to get up and personal with the Emperor Penguins for the first time. Kyle said they were unable to approach the penguins however the penguins could approach them. Kyle remembers them being quite intimidating standing approximately four feet tall with extremely sharp beaks used for fishing. He also remembered when they swam they looked like a loon.
Unfortunately, Kyle’s Antarctic adventure was cut short on Thanksgiving Day 1998, in the shadows of Mount Erebus, when someone had the bright idea of playing tackle football on the ice. The game was going well until Kyle made a tackle with the member of the opposing team landing on him breaking his collarbone. Kyle was airlifted to McMurdo Station for medical care and then flown to Christchurch by C-130 before heading stateside again.  
Kyle returned to the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh for the spring semester, however, decided to follow a fellow graduate, who had completed her studies at the university, to Mayo Clinic. In June of 1998 Kyle started as an ECG technician in the basement of the Plumber Building. Twenty-two years later, Kyle is still employed by Mayo Clinic.
He has been associated with several different research programs spanning different disciplines throughout the years. Kyle has presented his work both nationally and internationally and his name can be found on multiple scientific publications as either an author or co-author.
Currently, Kyle is a Senior Research Technologist in the Microscopy and Cell Analysis Core facility.
Kyle moved to the City of Kasson in 2013. Shortly thereafter, he was introduced to Jackie Johnson by a mutual friend who played golf with Jackie and worked with Kyle. Kyle and Jackie were set up on a blind date and he said things went well as the two were married in June 2015 and reside in Kasson along with their sons/stepsons Ryan (14) and Ayden (10).
When it comes to sports at their house, it is a house divided. Jackie cheers for the Minnesota teams including the Vikings and the Gophers where it is strictly Packers, Badgers, and Boilermakers for Kyle. 
The Howell’s like to play golf, fish, and travel. Kyle has been to at least 20 different countries, three continents, and greater than 40 states as well as Washington, DC to which he will return this summer, after 35 years, as he travels with Ryan and the Kasson-Mantorville eighth grade class (Class of 2025) to the nation’s capital.
Several highlights of Kyle’s travels have been visiting his great-grandfather’s home in Trefor, Wales, returning to Budapest with Jackie, and visiting an old college hangout call Marxim Pub and Pizzeria where the pizza is inexpensive and you eat amongst the barbed wire, gas masks, and paintings of former communist leaders.
One of Kyle and Jackie’s most recent travels took them by cruise ship from Miami, Florida to Havana, Cuba. It was like taking a step back to the 1950s for Kyle and Jackie with all the vintage American automobiles which looked American on the outside but may have a Toyota engine under the hood. Outside of Antarctica, Kyle said this is the only place he has ever been without a McDonald’s or Starbucks. While in Cuba, Kyle remembers traveling to Earnest Hemmingway’s home and on the way, seeing the Cuban children playing baseball as many American children do here in Kasson in the spring and summer.
What amazed Kyle and Jackie both is how they could be in the Port of Havana on a cruise ship with first-world amenities and just across the street were individuals that were unable to light their homes with electricity.
Through Kyle and Jackie’s many travels, they have realized that though governments don’t always see eye to eye or get along, their people are just like you and me with the same hopes, dreams, and aspirations. Following their travels, the Howell’s know how fortunate they are to live in a country with many opportunities and freedoms.
As COVID-19 restrictions ease, the Howell’s once again look forward to traveling the world again.
 
 
 
Photo: Kasson resident Kyle Howell has traveled the globe and as a Wisconsin native still stays a Packer fan.