Lois Howard, Mitchell

Lois Howard, 94, Mitchell, died Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012, in hospice care at Lenexa, Kan.

She was born Aug. 29, 1918.

Funeral services will be at 10:30 a.m. Friday at the Faith Missionary Church, Mitchell. Burial will be in Graceland Cemetery. Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the Bittner Funeral Chapel. Memorials may be made to a scholarship fund in her memory at the Faith Bible School.

Lois Gerd ( Myrann) Howard, born in Aberdeen, was the eldest of eight children born to Eiven Olsen Myrann and Hetty Isadora Nelson. The Myranns lived for many years in or near Tolstoy. Lois graduated from high school in Gettysburg and attended Faith Home and School in Mitchell. There she met Lyle A. Howard, and they were married June 24, 1941, in Tolstoy. They immediately entered into a life of pastoral care and missionary endeavor that took them to Cuba as well as to churches near Hamburg, Iowa, Garden City and Mitchell. When it became no longer possible to work in Cuba, in 1953 they returned to Mitchell, where they pastored the Faith Missionary church for 51 years, retiring in 2004. In 2012 they celebrated their 71st wedding anniversary. Lois was a faithful wife and loving mother. She was closely involved in the work of Faith Bible School for many years.

She is survived by two sisters, Carolyn Carson and Bonnie Strouckel, and a brother, John (Jack) Myrann, all of the Phoenix, Ariz., area; four children: Lindell, Elaine (Mrs. Martin Swinehart), David, and James; 15 grandchildren; and 28 great-grandchildren.

Preceding her in death were her parents; three brothers, Robert (Bob), Albert (Bert) and Wesley; and a sister, Eleanor; and one grandchild.

Although many of her early friends and acquaintances have preceded her, she is remarkable in that she made fast friends of younger people as well. She leaves family and friends with an irreplaceable memory of a godly woman who truly modeled the grace of God to several generations.

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