Wilma Howard

SHELBURNE - Wilma Howard, age 98, passed away on Tuesday, August 25, 2015 at The Arbors at Shelburne.

She was born in Swanton on June 27, 1917 to the late Earl & Anna (Loop) Reed.

Wilma graduated as valedictorian from Essex Jct. High School. After graduation she attended the University of Vermont for a short time before marrying Donald Howard on May 14, 1938. Wilma belonged to several groups including the Order of the Easter Star, L.V.I.S, Fireside Club, the Girl Scouts and Brownies as a troop leader and the Enosburg Falls United Methodist Church. She had a green thumb, especially when it came to plants, her interests included gardening, swimming, canoeing, biking and a love for the outdoors. Wilma was fiercely loyal to family and never had a bad word for anyone. She took great pride in being Donalds devoted wife while caring for him as his health failed through the final 8 years of his life.

She is survived by her children, Carole Ann Johnson and her husband Ivan of Swanton and Mary Howard of Burlington and a very special friend Jonathan Raphael; grandchildren, Ivan Johnson Jr. and his wife Mary, Bruce Johnson and Jessica Ladd and Christine Scanlon and her husband Chris; great grandchildren, Joana Smith and her husband Mike, Joseph Johnson, Adam Johnson and his wife Kelli and Carly Scanlon; great great grandchildren, Cheyanne & Savannah Johnson and several nieces & nephews. Besides her parents, Wilma was predeceased by her husband Donald S. Howard; her siblings and their spouses, Wilmot & Susie, James & Carol, Earl Jr. & Eleanor and Hugh & Eleanor Reed and a sister-in-law, Lillian Olbrych and her husband Jim.

Wilmas family would like to thank the people that helped care for her over the past several years including the staffs from Gazebo Apartments of Pillsbury Senior Communities and The Arbors at Shelburne; and family friends, Julie Lacross, Paul & Pauline Loiselle, Kevin Dulude and the late Charlie Colburn.

A Funeral Service will be held Thursday, August 27, 2015 at 11:00 AM at the Spears Funeral Home, 96 Dickinson Ave., Enosburg Falls with Pastor Jon Bly officiating. Interment will follow in Riverside Cemetery in Swanton at 3:00 PM.

A time of visitation will be held at the funeral home on Thursday from 10:00 AM until the hour of the service.

For those who wish, contributions in Wilmas memory may be made to the Enosburgh Ambulance Service, 83 Sampsonville Road, Enosburg Falls, VT 05450.