Obituary for Jeanne Howe
Many of you knew her from a long time ago. I thought I would share about her life the last 20 years.
One thing I didn't appreciate at first was how much she would thrive when she was given the opportunity. She had several jobs in retail, and what distinguished her was how hard she worked and how really well she got along with customers. She had to be careful what she said after a while ... once she was on break and walking around and chatting with a customer at a drugstore, and happened to look at an item for sale. The customer asked if she liked it and Jeanne replied yes. The next day the customer brought it in, wrapped, for her. She also won several awards - I think the grandest was seeing her 'beloved' John Mellencamp (and John Fogerty) in concert, and we also caught Santana (the old one - not the rapper!) in concert too.
As far as her personal thriving was concerned - She loved animals CONSTANTLY. In fact she loved when I took one road to a store we frequented and passed a farm with horses and cows and sheep. Over the 20 years she had a collection of guinea pigs and cockatiels, and wound up breeding both for a spell. She was deeply attached to them, and I accused her at times of caring more about animals than people. I don't remember a single denial ... She was a fixture at our favorite pet store and helped customers out often and was highly respected by the managers there. One time, they gave her an Angora rabbit who wasn't doing well. Jeanne nursed it to health - discovering in the process that the poor thing had a bot fly in her neck. I had never heard of these disgusting things! She got it out, and the rabbit was a part of our lives for a year or so -- but was REALLY big, and Jeanne gave it back to the pet store to sell. That wasn't the only time they asked her to help - but the other creatures were guinea pigs or cockatiels and she LOVED it.
Another one of her delights was plants. In our first apartment she was an African Violet whisperer or something. African Violets just thrived and she had many of them. But in both places she was amazing. She would take leaves or stems off the floor of plant departments or greenhouses (occasionally liberating a leaf that was clinging too tightly to a stem) and then get them to root in water, eventually planting them and they thrived as well. She loved taking avocado pits and rooting them and starting them to grow. It was kind of eerie for me (I killed a reportedly indestructible spider plant once). The past few years our next door neighbor was also a 'plant person' and they would trade plants and cuttings back and forth.
The third way she thrived was one that I only recently discovered going through her papers. She subscribed to several magazines, regularly changing the selection. What I didn't realized was how many notes she took from everything she read. In the early days we used to visit Borders (a now defunct book store) and she loved reading. She realized eventually that she suffered from adult ADHD (it wasn't a thing when we were young), and that's what led to her extensive note taking I believe.
And I almost forgot - she enjoyed cooking. This became a 'problem' of sorts near the end. She was bedridden - first nearly and then totally - and as a result watched more and more cooking shows. She participated in this in much the same way she participated in watching Yankee baseball. I would hear her yelling and would come into the room wondering if something was wrong, only to find out that she was just 'giving advice'. She also enjoyed many nature shows and older cartoons :) Oh yeah -- and that Yankee baseball crap (I was born in Baltimore and was an avid Orioles fan until recently when they decided they had to stink all the time). She had accumulated a lot of Yankee memorabilia (well - a lot for me!) ... it won't hurt so much getting rid of *that*.
She didn't sing in a group but always loved music. But her tastes were set when she was young. In the car, if the radio was on, the station HAD to be an oldies station. I teach high school, and tried to introduce her to some of the newer music I thought she would appreciate ... but she was adamantly stuck in her ways in this respect. Some of you will know what that is like, and perhaps have some pity for me!
She also became more religious/spiritual at the end. She would watch church on TV, and that was part of her reading material as well.
I don't know if I'll continue to be able to get into her Facebook - but I can still get to her email (cooterbearde@yahoo.com - after one of her favorite and earliest guinea pigs.)
She hated smart phones, and was quite computer-resistant until just a few years ago (sadly). I want to thank you all personally for befriending her in whatever small way you did. You made her so much happier the last year or two. We had planned and talked about going up to visit a high school friend for over two years ... but COVID dictated otherwise. I am sad she never got to do that or to reconnect with her children which she talked about wanting for the longest time.
But perhaps those ungratified longings are part of what make us all human. I know she is at peace now - more so than she ever was in this life. And I am confident that her every longing is now fulfilled.
One thing I didn't appreciate at first was how much she would thrive when she was given the opportunity. She had several jobs in retail, and what distinguished her was how hard she worked and how really well she got along with customers. She had to be careful what she said after a while ... once she was on break and walking around and chatting with a customer at a drugstore, and happened to look at an item for sale. The customer asked if she liked it and Jeanne replied yes. The next day the customer brought it in, wrapped, for her. She also won several awards - I think the grandest was seeing her 'beloved' John Mellencamp (and John Fogerty) in concert, and we also caught Santana (the old one - not the rapper!) in concert too.
As far as her personal thriving was concerned - She loved animals CONSTANTLY. In fact she loved when I took one road to a store we frequented and passed a farm with horses and cows and sheep. Over the 20 years she had a collection of guinea pigs and cockatiels, and wound up breeding both for a spell. She was deeply attached to them, and I accused her at times of caring more about animals than people. I don't remember a single denial ... She was a fixture at our favorite pet store and helped customers out often and was highly respected by the managers there. One time, they gave her an Angora rabbit who wasn't doing well. Jeanne nursed it to health - discovering in the process that the poor thing had a bot fly in her neck. I had never heard of these disgusting things! She got it out, and the rabbit was a part of our lives for a year or so -- but was REALLY big, and Jeanne gave it back to the pet store to sell. That wasn't the only time they asked her to help - but the other creatures were guinea pigs or cockatiels and she LOVED it.
Another one of her delights was plants. In our first apartment she was an African Violet whisperer or something. African Violets just thrived and she had many of them. But in both places she was amazing. She would take leaves or stems off the floor of plant departments or greenhouses (occasionally liberating a leaf that was clinging too tightly to a stem) and then get them to root in water, eventually planting them and they thrived as well. She loved taking avocado pits and rooting them and starting them to grow. It was kind of eerie for me (I killed a reportedly indestructible spider plant once). The past few years our next door neighbor was also a 'plant person' and they would trade plants and cuttings back and forth.
The third way she thrived was one that I only recently discovered going through her papers. She subscribed to several magazines, regularly changing the selection. What I didn't realized was how many notes she took from everything she read. In the early days we used to visit Borders (a now defunct book store) and she loved reading. She realized eventually that she suffered from adult ADHD (it wasn't a thing when we were young), and that's what led to her extensive note taking I believe.
And I almost forgot - she enjoyed cooking. This became a 'problem' of sorts near the end. She was bedridden - first nearly and then totally - and as a result watched more and more cooking shows. She participated in this in much the same way she participated in watching Yankee baseball. I would hear her yelling and would come into the room wondering if something was wrong, only to find out that she was just 'giving advice'. She also enjoyed many nature shows and older cartoons :) Oh yeah -- and that Yankee baseball crap (I was born in Baltimore and was an avid Orioles fan until recently when they decided they had to stink all the time). She had accumulated a lot of Yankee memorabilia (well - a lot for me!) ... it won't hurt so much getting rid of *that*.
She didn't sing in a group but always loved music. But her tastes were set when she was young. In the car, if the radio was on, the station HAD to be an oldies station. I teach high school, and tried to introduce her to some of the newer music I thought she would appreciate ... but she was adamantly stuck in her ways in this respect. Some of you will know what that is like, and perhaps have some pity for me!
She also became more religious/spiritual at the end. She would watch church on TV, and that was part of her reading material as well.
I don't know if I'll continue to be able to get into her Facebook - but I can still get to her email (cooterbearde@yahoo.com - after one of her favorite and earliest guinea pigs.)
She hated smart phones, and was quite computer-resistant until just a few years ago (sadly). I want to thank you all personally for befriending her in whatever small way you did. You made her so much happier the last year or two. We had planned and talked about going up to visit a high school friend for over two years ... but COVID dictated otherwise. I am sad she never got to do that or to reconnect with her children which she talked about wanting for the longest time.
But perhaps those ungratified longings are part of what make us all human. I know she is at peace now - more so than she ever was in this life. And I am confident that her every longing is now fulfilled.