Services for lifelong Sitkan Elizabeth Ann “Liz” Howard will be held 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 28, at the Sheet’ka Kwaan Naa Kahidi.
Elizabeth died Sept. 17 in Sitka, at the age of 89.
“Elizabeth was the most beautiful and amazing woman,” her family said. “She has always been the kindest, most gentle soul – everyone who met her loved her immediately. ... She didn’t have an easy life, but she was always ready to invite people into the family.”
She was born April 21, 1936, in Sitka, the daughter of Roman and Annie Antioquia. Roman was born in the Philippines and Annie was born in Sitka, the daughter of Kitty and Sitka Charley. Elizabeth was a member of Sitka Tribe of Alaska and Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. Her Tlingit name was Shakw.een and her clan was Teiḵweidí.
Her mother died when Liz was 6, and she and her brothers were raised by her grandmother, who spoke only Tlingit. Later, her grandmother lived with Liz and her family.
Elizabeth went to Sitka schools, and on Sept. 25, 1953, she married Glenn Howard, when she was 17 and he was 19.
In 1969, she began working as an assistant at the senior center, at that time located in the Sitka Woman’s Club building on Harbor Drive and called the Double O, which stood for Older Ones. In 1974, she took over as director, retiring in 1999 from what had become the Swan Lake Senior Center, on Lake Street.
Elizabeth loved to stay busy, and was a volunteer at the Alaska Raptor Center, Sitka Tribe of Alaska, and the Senior Center, among others. She was an active member of the Presbyterian Church, and of the Alaska Native Sisterhood, Emblem Club and Women of the Moose.
Among her awards were the Chamber of Commerce Cossack Cap, in 1997; and the AARP’s Andrus Award in 2014.
Elizabeth was preceded in death by her husband, Glenn Howard Sr.; daughters Geri Garcia and Doris Laborn-Anselm; and her siblings, Rio Antioquia, Roman Antioquia and Clarence Antioquia.
She is survived by sons Glenn B. Howard of Moore, Oklahoma; Darryl Howard (Stacy Mudry) of Sitka; daughters Cynthia Bass (Mark Bass) of Lochbuie, Colorado; and Judith Kell (Tony Kell) of Charleston, West Virginia; 13 grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren; and two great-great-grandchildren.
