**Thanks Rosie for sponsoring my wife's memorial.**
Precious Wife, Mother, Grandmother, Sister, aunt & Friend. Friend to many here on Find A Grave.

Patty (Ann) Howard my precious wife was the daughter of Marve and Pauline (Caldwell) Strouss. Few people knew that she was adopted when she was around 9. There was never a child or mom and dad more loved than they loved each other.

Although Ann was born in Michigan she lived most of her childhood in Southern California. Her dad was a pipefitter and they also lived in Kissimmee, Florida. They moved all around following the work until they moved back to Michigan.

At the age of 16 her mom helped her find her blood relatives. Ann was reunited with her brother and her sister. One brother wasn't found until years later. Ann so dearly loved and missed them over the years.

By Ann's request her birth parents will not be linked to this memorial. Although she forgave her birth mother the pain of being unloved, unwanted, beat, and locked in closets never left her. My precious wife said her birth parents are no longer her mom and dad. She said her precious mom and dad who adopted her are the parents who raised and loved her.

Ann graduated with a business degree in Leslie, Michigan in 1972. My wife and I have been married for 26 wonderful but short years. We were married September 28th 1986 and are still in love today. My wife spent her life making our children and me feel loved, wanted and needed. Ann was married before me but he would not settle down. He said he had rather have his drinking than a family. I raised her children from a young age and think of them as mine. My girls are loved by Ann just as a mother would love them.

God, family, friends, and her animals was the most important thing to Ann. She was a member of Victory Temple Church of God. She had a wonderful sense of humor and loved to laugh. She found joy in the smallest things. Everyone she met loved her and enjoyed being around her.

When my wife got sick I missed her laughing the most. Whenever she would laugh she would have a coughing spell and could not breath. Sometimes it would make her pass out. When she first got sick in October 2010 her lungs were so bad from having a relapse of pneumonia within 2 months her oxygen went to 68%. The doctor said he did not expect her to be alive when he got to the hospital.

She somehow got MRSA in her lungs, bones, and joints. Her lungs were scarred from all the times she had pneumonia throughout her life. She hated being on oxygen 24/7 and she could no longer walk but used a power chair. My poor wife always being in so much pain cried often when she thought no one could hear. It broke my heart to see her in that much pain.

Years ago we went on many vacations together and we really loved Cottonwood, Arizona. Most of the time we stayed in Cottonwood. But once when we were in Phoenix on a vacation we were approached by a bum wanting money. He acted like he had a gun and Ann took off fast in the car. He jumped back pretty fast too. There was also a bum at a restaurant wanting money for a cup of coffee. Seems like everyone wanted money and we have laughed over the years about it.

We have many good memories in all the years we were together. It was just not long enough I thought we would grow old together.

We went to San Francisco when Ann won an award for one of her poems that she wrote. We had a wonderful time there. My wife loved to write poems for loved ones and poems about God and animals. Besides writing poems Ann loved to cross stitch before she went blind in one eye. She loved cooking and keeping the house clean. Ann worked at many different jobs and her job as a security guard was her most loved job. I am sure it was because she could take her beloved furbaby Snookie to work with her.


Surviving is our son James Wesley Bradley II and our daughter Paula Ann Ackerman, our daughters Holly and Jody. 8 grandchildren who were the pride and joy of her life. She also leaves behind a sister Carla Mae Lickly, 3 brothers; Arthur, Dale, and Michael. Also many nieces, nephews, friends, and family.

Ann was preceded in death by her precious mother Pauline Strouss, her dad Marve Strouss, and her brother Carl Davis. Also her sister's husband Dennis Lickly. Ann adored her birth Grandmother and Grandfather

We have family and so many animals that she will be with in Heaven. She said she was not afraid because she knew Jesus her family and her furbabies waited for her. She loved all our furbabies but she loved Snookie with all her heart and soul and has waited all these years to be with Snookie. My wife loved all animals of any kind and was often found in the floor playing with them. Honey I will come to you when it is my time. I love you now, always, and forever. I will keep your memory alive here on earth. With each beat of my heart I will love you with an everlasting love until I am with you again.

We Ann dies Snookie and Amber remains is to be buried with her in her coffin with her.

Your hubby, Clair

I'm Free

Don't grieve for me, for now I'm free;
I'm following the path God laid for me.
I took his hand when I heard him call;
I turned my back and left it all.

I could not stay another day;
To laugh, to love, to work, or play.
Tasks left undone must stay that way;
I found that place at the close of day..

If my parting has left a void,
Then filled it with remembered joy.
A friendship shared, a laugh, a kiss;
Ah yes, these things, I too will miss.

Be not burdened with times of sorrow;
I wish you the sunshine of tomorrow.
My life's been full, I Savored much;
Good friends, good times, a loved one's
touch.

Perhaps my times seemed all too brief;
Don't lengthen it now with undue grief.
Lift up your heart and share with me;
God wanted me now, He set me free.


Service will be held on Monday October 27, 2014 at 1:00pm at Rupp Funeral Home, Inc. Monroe Michigan.
Officiating will be Rev. Alfred Whittaker. Burial will be Roselawn Memorial Park LaSalle, Michigan