Longtime Howell's Bar Manager Elayne Klavinger Dies

DEARBORN, MI – Helen Mamalakis can’t ignore the symbolism behind the date of her longtime friend Elayne Klavinger’s memorial service.

It will be held on Sunday, April 24, two years to the day that fire destroyed Howell’s Bar, a popular downtown gathering spot. Klavinger didn’t just manage and bartend at Howell’s for more than 25 years, Mamalakis said, she embodied it.

“She turned it into something elegant,” Mamalakis said of her friend, who died on April 16, 2016, at the age of 78.

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As the story goes, Klavinger had a hysterical sense of humor that made the worst situations tolerable. Her deeply held belief in the ability of people to be anything they desired at any point in their lives made her a kindred soul who attracted people of all stripes, who earned her respect regardless of their backgrounds.

“She was a wonderful person and didn’t know a stranger,” Mamalakis said. “She wasn’t judgmental.”

Mamalakis says there was no one like her friend, a small blonde woman described in an obituary provided by her family as “a dynamo with the passion and heart of her Danube Swabian relatives.”

Born in Detroit, she was a fiercely patriotic and proud American with a strong ethnic heritage. A student of history and genealogy, she loved all things of character and nobility.

“The patrons of Howell’s were enamored by how she made a bar feel like home during the holidays,” her obituary read. “Her garden was her passion, and it surpassed the expectations of any professional gardener.”

But Howell’s is where she left her mark.

According to her obituary, Klavinger changed not only the atmosphere of the business, but the entire pulse of the establishment. People in wedding parties stopped in for pictures, college graduates celebrated at Howell’s on graduation day, and in keeping with family traditions, 21-year-olds had their legal drink there.

“People came because Elayne made Howell’s a special place,” according to her obituary. “She counseled hundreds, comforted more and touched all who came within her realm. Elayne created a family from a group of strangers. She wouldn’t let it be any other way.”

Mourners held wakes at Howell’s, which makes Klavinger’s memorial service and luncheon on the anniversary of the fire that extinguished those traditions all the more poignant.

Because Howell’s is no more, friends will gather to remember Klavinger from 2-6 p.m. Sunday at the Knights of Columbus hall, 23663 Park St., in Dearborn.

In lieu of flowers, her family asks that memorial contributions be made to Toys for Tots or to Dearborn Special Olympics, 4064 John R. Road, Troy, MI 48085.

She is survived by five children, Suann Darmody, John Darmody, Kim Malmquist, Jacqueline Taschler and Sarah Erpa; a brother, Donald Klavinger: a sister, Donna Klavinger; her grandchildren John, Brittney and Mary Darmody, Jacob, Nathan and Katherina Taschler, and Brian and Andrew Auquier; and a great-granddaughter, Hailee Miller; three nephews; one niece; and surrogate children.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Stella and Peter Klavinger, and a brother Peter Klavinger Jr.