WEST WINDSOR, VT
Mary Kiernan Howland, 91, a longtime resident of West Windsor, passed away Saturday, January 1, 2011, at the home of her son in Isle LaMotte, where she has resided for the past four years. She died peacefully in her sleep after several days of songs and laughter with family members at her bedside.
She was born February 10, 1919 in Lowell, Massachusetts the daughter of William Russell and Anna (Doyle) Kiernan. She attended Notre Dame Academy, the Bartlett School and Lowell High School. In 1940 she graduated from Lowell State Teachers College, now the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.
Immediately following her graduation she moved to Vermont to teach at State Street School in Windsor.
She married John Hudson Howland in 1941 and they settled in West Windsor, where they made their home for more then a half century, raising their two daughters and three sons.
Mrs. Howland served as a trustee, vice president and was an honorary life trustee of the Vermont Historical Society. She was a delegate to the Governor's Conference on the Future of Vermont's Heritage and a member of the Vermont Statehood Bicentennial Commission.
She was a supporter of the Vermont Council on the Humanities, a trustee of the American Precision Museum in Windsor, a trustee of the West Windsor Historical Society, a member of Historic Windsor, Inc., and belonged to the historical societies in Windsor and Reading.
Mrs. Howland accompanied her husband to Montpelier during his ten years in the Vermont Senate and was a member of the Vermont Legislative Auxiliary.
Her poetry won several first prizes from the Vermont Federation of Women's Club. In addition to her serious poetry, she delighted her intimates with topical, perceptive and hilarious light verse.
She was a Cub Scout den mother, a longtime member of St. Francis of Assisi Church in Windsor where taught religious education, and was a special education tutor. She was a twenty five year member of the West Windsor Parent Teachers Association, belonged to both the Windsor County and the Windsor Southeast retired teachers associations, and was a member of the House of Delegates of the Vermont Association for Crippled Children.
Mrs. Howland was a fifty year member of the Home Dem Club, a member of the Gleaner Grange, the P.M. Club and Friends in Council.
Her husband of sixty two years, John Hudson Howland, passed away in 2003.
She was also predeceased by three brothers, John Kiernan, Cornelius Kiernan and William Kiernan, and by one great granddaughter, Peyton Elizabeth McFaun in 1999.
Survivors include three sons, John Howland, Jr. and his wife, Kathleen Balutansky of Isle LaMotte, William G. Howland and his wife, Betsy, of Isle LaMotte, and Glenn C. Howland and his wife, Anne, of Middlesex; two daughters, Mary Ann McFaun and her husband, Francis, of Barre Town, and Margo Howland Mastro, and her husband, Kenneth, of White River Junction; eight grandchildren, Katherine McFaun Williams, Bennet F. McFaun, Mary Alice McFaun, Charles Stevenson Howland, Emily Kiernan Proell, Alison J. Howland and Mariah D. Howland, and step-granddaughter, Vanessa Joan Fatton; seven great-grandchildren, Connor Williams, Meaghan Williams, Collin McFaun, Riley McFaun, Caitlin Packer, Joshua Packer and Max Proell; two sisters, Anna C. Kiernan (Sr. Mary of the Incarnation) of Bosque, NM, and Alice G. Kiernan of Lowell, MA, one brother, Joseph R. Kiernan of South Dartmouth, MA; two sisters-in-law, Anne "Nancy" Kiernan of South Dartmouth and Dorothy Fenoff of Jacksonville, FL; and many nieces and nephews.
Friends may call at the Knight Funeral Home in Windsor on Friday, January 7, from 5:00 to 7:00 PM.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Saturday, January 8, at 11:00 AM at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Windsor. The Rev. Paul N. Belhumeur, M.S., former Pastor and friend of the family will be the Celebrant. A reception for family and friends will follow in the church hall. Committal services will be held in the spring in the Brownsville Cemetery in West Windsor.
The family expresses their appreciation to her caregivers in Isle LaMotte and to her dear friend Pat Lucarelli in West Windsor.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Society of the Most Holy Trinity (SOLT) at 886 Highway 116, Bosque, NM 87006.