Eleanor R. Howard

    Howard, Eleanor R., 95, January 11, 2012.  Arrangements by Dunn Funeral Home, Houlton.  Interment to be held in the Hodgdon Cemetery.
    HODGDON – Eleanor R. Howard, 95, died Jan. 11, 2012 at a New Jersey healthcare facility. She was born Feb. 20, 1916 at Springfield, MA, the daughter of Lynwood and Jennie (Brown) Ross.
    Eleanor graduated from Colby College (1937) and received her M.S. degree in Biology from the University of Iowa. Eleanor founded the biology department at Ricker Classical Institute and Ricker College where she taught for several years until her marriage to Ralph Howard in 1942. In 1958, she returned to teach Biology at Ricker College, receiving an honorary doctorate from that institution in 1974.
    She was a long-time member of the Court Street Baptist Church and sang in the Houlton Community Chorus.
    Besides her scientific interests, which often led her to dissect frogs and fetal pigs on the kitchen table in preparation for her biology classes at Ricker College, Eleanor loved music, cooking and every kind of handwork. A good pianist, she shared her musical interests with her son, Woody, and her brother, James Ross. In high summer, she thought nothing of canning twenty quarts of green and yellow beans in one afternoon or making twenty jars of strawberry jam from the tiny wild strawberries that grew on the hill behind the family farmhouse. By autumn, her cellar would always be lined with hundreds of jars of canned vegetables, jams, and pickles. During the potato harvest, Eleanor was famous for the homemade bread, apple pie, and beef stew she would bring to the fields for lunch. In her final decades, she spent much of her time creating beautiful hooked rugs and needlepoint designs and making Christmas tree ornaments and homemade candy for members of her extended family.
    Eleanor is survived by her son Elwood James (Woody) Howard of New York City, NY; two daughters, Barbara Traister of North Hills, PA and Jean Howard of New York City, NY; four grandchildren, three great-grandchildren; several nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her husband, Ralph Howard, with whom she shared a marriage of fifty-six years.
    Funeral arrangements will announced at a later date. Interment will be in the Hodgdon Cemetery. Gifts may be made in Eleanor’s memory to the Ricker College Scholarship Fund, c/o Dunn Funeral Home, 11 Park Street, Houlton, ME 04730. Online condolences and guest book: dunn funeral.com.