LILLIE MARIE (ROBBINS) HOWARD

Lillie Marie (Robbins) Howard, 96, of Ash Grove passed away on Wednesday, March 26, 2025. She was born in Des Moines, Iowa on June 17, 1928, to Rev. Alva Eli and Esther Lois (Miller) Robbins.
On June 8, 1951, she married Rev. William Daniel Howard and they shared over 53 years together his passing in 2005.
The daughter of a Free Methodist pastor her early years were spent moving between Iowa, Missouri, and Arkansas. She found joy in the connections she made along the way, especially during her time in Phelps and Miller. She attended Central Methodist College in McPherson, Kan., where she became a proud member of Central’s first girls’ basketball team, she went on to complete her degree at John Brown University. She taught elementary music in Fort Riley, Kan. and picked up a hobby of decorating cakes, that became her last career, retiring at 85 from Murfin’s Market in Willard. They had moved to Ash Grove to help her siblings care for their parents.
She is survived by her daughter, Melody (Larry) Wilson; three grandsons; one great-grandson; one great-great-grandson; as well as her nieces, nephews, cousins, other family, and friends.
She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Rev. William Howard; son, Michael Daniel Howard; grandson, Tom A. Wilson; sisters: Mina Belle Holcomb, Avalyn Faye Burris and Goldie Irene Bailey; and brother, Alva John Robbins.
Services were held on Tuesday, April 1, at Wilson-Griffin Funeral Home in Ash Grove with burial at Goss Cemetery.