Mabel I (Howard) Howard
Obituaries
The Daily Sentinel page 5B Obituary - April 24, 2018
Mabel I. Howard September 7, 1924 - April 18, 2018
Mabel Howard, of Delta, died Wednesday, April 18, 2018, at Horizon’s Care Center in Eckert. She was 93. Funeral services will be held Tuesday, April 24, 2018, at 2:00 p.m. at Taylor Funeral Service Chapel in Delta. Mabel was the youngest of eight children and the last survivor of the Ira and Anna Howard family. She was born on September 7, 1924, at the family home in Read, Colorado. Her twin sister, Myrtle, died on February 20, 1926. Being nine years younger than her closest sister, Mabel was loved and spoiled by her siblings, parents, and her grandpa, Ira Sr., who would take her to the Read Store and buy her Hershey’s chocolate bars. She had a lifelong fondness for chocolate. Mabel attended the Read School and graduated from Delta High School in 1942. She began studying nursing in Pueblo, but quickly switched to elementary education at Western State College. Before finishing, she was issued an emergency wartime teaching certificate. She later earned a master’s degree in History from Western. Miss Howard taught in Delta County for 42 years, retiring in 1989, the longest serving teacher in the county’s history at the time of her passing. Mabel was a lifelong member of the Delta Seventh-day Adventist Church, a Pink Lady, a member of the T&R Club, a museum volunteer, a supporter of the library, and a lover of dogs and cats. She enjoyed travel, Friday lunches with her sisters and great-nephews, reading, and playing card games. She looked forward to Friday evening devotionals and Bible trivia with her sisters, celebrating family birthdays and national holidays, as well as spoiling her great-nephews. She loved writing poetry and many people enjoyed her Christmas poems. She is survived by three nieces and two nephews, Betty (Charles) Soper of Austin; JoAnn Whalen of Grand Junction; Shirley Shultz of Salt Lake City; Tom Marshall of Henderson, NV, and Wayne Long of Clifton, as well as many great-nieces and nephews; among these are Matthew Soper of Delta and Michael Soper of East Lyme, CT, whom she claimed to have helped raise. She was preceded in death by her brother, Guy Howard, and sisters, Marjorie Long, Orpha Miley, Clara Marshall, Thelma Mosher, Merle Payne, and Myrtle Howard. Memorial contributions may be made to the Delta Seventh-day Adventist School or the Delta County Historical Society Museum, c/o Betty Soper, 8841 Marshalls Road, Austin, CO 81416.
Raymond
