Obituaries

Harriet Lorraine Howard was born to the union of Elizabeth Terry and Melrose Douglas on October 27th, 1931, St. Louis, Missouri. She spent her childhood in St. Louis, Arkansas and Chicago but finished grade school and high school in St. Louis, graduating from St. Joseph’s High School at the age of sixteen. Upon graduation, she was awarded a scholarship to the College of Saint Teresa in Winona, Minnesota. She later returned to Chicago, Illinois to join her mother Elizabeth and stepfather Whitfield Terry. While in Chicago, she married Roy Howard raised her children, Denise and Tamara. She returned to St. Louis with her girls and built a new foundation. Harriet joined St. Matthew the Apostle Catholic Church where she enrolled her children in school and became an active member of that church and school community, actively participating in the National Office of Black Catholics and other church and school committees. She was honored with the Guardian Angel award by St. Matthew the Apostle Catholic Church in 2009 for her community service work. She retired after 27 years of service with the federal government beginning with the Railroad Retirement Board and ending with her retirement from the Veteran’s Administration Hospital.

Harriet was a fierce advocate for all and befriended those most in need, whether it was the veterans she worked with, her friends, the disabled who became her friends or the children in the neighborhood who needed a surrogate mom. She instilled the importance of education, standing up for what you believe in and service to all. But mostly, she was a proud mom to Denise and Tamara and grandmother to Marshall. She was the heart of the family with her laughs, hugs, kisses and hand squeezes until her final days. She constantly filled her family’s reserves with unconditional love and acceptance. In-kind, her family appreciated the blessing of having her for each additional year, month, week, day and hour of her eighty-eight years.

She leaves this earthly plane to join her mother, Elizabeth; her father, Melrose; grandmothers Susie and Missouri, her uncles Van and Charlie, her aunts Anne and Jackie and close cousins Catherine and Clara Jo. She also joins her extended St. Louis brothers and sisters Gwen Giles, Leroy Cooney, Wilma and Ronnie Boone, Dorothy and Charles Allen, as well as her Greater Ville family Stella, Connie, Albert, Janet, Moses, and Robert Lee. She also leaves behind a host of extended family in Texas (Millers), Indiana (Johnsons), and Georgia (Dorseys).

As a lifelong learner, Harriet loved the gift of education. In lieu of flowers, we ask that donations be considered in her name for schools she supported including Cardinal Ritter College Preparatory High School (St. Louis, MO), Howard University (Washington, DC), Fisk University (Nashville, TN) or Lincoln University (Jefferson City, MO).