Iris T. Howe

Iris T. Howe, 95, formerly of Springfield, Ohio, died Saturday, January 4th at the Sholom Home residence in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She was born on July 28th, 1924, in Brookneal, Virginia, to Anne and Robert Tweedy. Iris graduated from high school at 16 and went to secretarial school, then became a typist for the FBI during World War II. She married Bennie Wilton Howe of Ashland, Maine on January 1st, 1946. They began their married life in Cambridge, Massachusetts, then moved to Lynchburg, Virginia, where Iris ran a nursery school to put Ben through college. In 1956, they moved to Johnstown, Ohio, where Ben became a teacher and Iris worked as a secretary for Nationwide Insurance; they moved to Springfield, Ohio in 1959, where Iris worked as a secretary at Wittenberg University from 1961 until her retirement in 1986. They were active members of First Baptist Church. After retirement, Iris enjoyed canoeing, fishing, square-dancing, sewing, volunteering at the Rocking Horse Community Health Center, and traveling with Ben in their RV (a pickup truck with a camper shell and two cots in the back). Ben died in 1999 after 53 years of marriage, and in 2006, Iris moved to Minnesota to be closer to her daughter and other family members. She was preceded in death by her parents; her brother, Robert Tweedy; her sister, Reva Tweedy Williams; her husband, Bennie Howe; and her daughter, Amelia ("Amy") Howe Kritzer. She is survived by her son, Eric Howe (and his wife, Cathy Chrones) of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; her son-in-law, Herbert ("Bert") Kritzer, of St. Paul, MN; her grandchildren, Naomi Kritzer (and husband Edward Burke), Abigail Kritzer (and husband Allen Grenander), and Nathaniel Kritzer (and wife Melissa Kritzer); and great-grandchildren Molly and Kiera Burke and Benjamin and Daniel Kritzer. The funeral service to honor Iris will be held Saturday, January 18, 2020 at 12:15 PM in RICHARDS, RAFF & DUNBAR MEMORIAL HOME, with the visitation beginning at 11:00 AM in the memorial home. Memorials requested to the Rocking Horse Community Health Center of Springfield, Ohio.Expressions of sympathy may be made at www.richardsraffandddunbar.com.