Vera Howell marked several milestones in 2002. She was elected president of the National Association of Women in Construction San Diego chapter; she turned 40, and she married Steve Howell.

The NAWIC president, an administrative assistant at Turner Construction Co., works with project director Ron Rudolph. Howell’s involvement in construction started six years ago with a temporary employment assignment. She had worked in Burbank until her employer’s business closed.

Howell returned to San Diego, where she’d lived since age 2. A temp agency sent her on a one-day assignment to the San Diego Convention Center, where Turner was working on the expansion.

“I’d never been on a construction job. I went in a typical office outfit. I had on high heels,” recalls Howell. She slipped on a pair of flats that she kept in the car.

Her assignment expanded to two weeks. Howell thought travel plans made a year earlier would end her employment. She told Rudolph that her family had scheduled a trip to Israel. He said to return and consider herself a full-time employee.

“I really liked the convention center,” she says. “It was fast-paced, exciting.”

After several months on the job, Rudolph asked Howell to attend NAWIC meetings. The group elected her treasurer. She served in that position for two years and was vice president for two years before becoming president of the 35-member organization. She also edits the chapter’s newsletter.

Howell worked at the convention center for three years. When the project ended, she began working at Turner’s Mission Valley office. She’s proud of Turner’s community activities like Christmas in April, the annual renovation of a home by volunteers.

Howell is pleased to live near her parents, Juan and Lily Carrasco, and sister Peggy Wilkinson. Her father’s background is in telescopes, and the family lived for years on Palomar Mountain.

The family grew last year when Howell married a man who had been a co-worker in Burbank. Steve Howell is the program manager for a Los Angeles electronics firm. He’s there two days and telecommutes the other three days.

— Liz Swain