The Reverend Rosemary J. Howard of 3110 Davis Drive, and more recently of Maplewood, MN passed away Monday, April 7, 2008 at the Episcopal Home of Minnesota in St. Paul.
Funeral Services will be at 1:00 pm on Friday April 11, 2008 at Christ Church Cathedral, 510 S. Farwell Street, Eau Claire, WI 54701. The Rt. Reverend Keith Whitmore and The Very Reverend Robert Rademaker will officiate. Burial will immediately follow the services in Forest Hill Cemetery in Eau Claire. Friends may call at the church Friday morning from 11 am until the time of services.
Rosemary, the daughter of Hans and Eva Skerry Olsen, was born November 14, 1922 in Eau Claire, WI. She was a graduate of St. Mary's College in Faribault, MN and of Eau Claire State Teachers College. |
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On May 24, 1942, she married Orien Howard of Spring Valley, WI in Christ Church Cathedral in Eau Claire. After raising four children and being an active woman in the community and the church, Rosemary returned to school attending San Jose State University in San Jose, Ca and receiving her Masters Degree in Gerontology.
She then began a professional career as a recreation director at a retirement complex and went on to teach at Chabot College in California where she had her own cable TV program. She later worked as a director for three "Area Agencies on Aging" in Chico, CA; San Francisco, CA; and Eau Claire, WI.
At the age of 65 she returned to academics attending the University of Wisconsin in Madison to work on her PhD in Gerontology. It was at this time that she had a calling to study for, and become, an ordained Episcopal Deacon serving at Christ Church Cathedral in Eau Claire beginning in 1992.
Following the death of her husband in 1994 and having witnessed the caring and support they provided both her husband and the family during his illness, Rosemary became a hospice chaplain for Northwest Wisconsin Homecare serving with them into her 80's. Rosemary was a member of The American Mensa Organization, The American Gerontological Society and the P.E.O Sisterhood.
Rosemary was preceded in death: by her husband Orien Howard, by her son, John L. Howard, by her brother, The Very Reverend Leslie Skerry Olsen and her sister-in-law Erna Olsen. She is survived by three daughters, Pamela Navabpour (Russ) of San Juan Capistrano, CA; Cynthia J. Holdway of Cameron Park, CA; Deborah Howard-Ryburn (Scott) of Maplewood, MN, and a daughter-in-law Lynn Bulmer of San Jose, CA. She is further survived by four grandchildren; James D. Holdway of Savannah, GA, Yasemin Navabpour Herlihy (James) of Walpole, MA, Suzanne Navabpour Coleman (Christopher) of Glenview, IL and Jennifer Howard of Aptos, CA. She is also survived by six great grandchildren; Madeline Herlihy, Abigail Coleman, Bridget Herlihy, Owen Coleman, Charlotte Herlihy and Linus Coleman.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to The Alzheimer's Association, 225 N. Michigan Avenue, 17th floor, Chicago, IL 60601. Friends and family may offer condolences online at www.fullerspeckienhulke.com
Fuller Speckien Hulke Funeral Home, 3209 Rudolph Road, Eau Claire, WI is assisting the family with the arrangements.
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