Carol Elaine (Riley) Howard

It is with the utmost sorrow and deepest sadness that we regret to announce the passing of Carol Elaine (Riley) Howard.

Carol E. (Riley) Howard, 80, of Tucson, AZ; formerly of Medford, MA, Billerica, MA, Woburn, MA and Dennisport, MA, passed away peacefully at home in Tucson on August 5, 2024.

Carol was a selfless loving wife to Robert M. Howard II and a beloved, extraordinary mother to her two children Robin M. Howard and Robert M. Howard III. Carol and Bob were married on March 29th, 1969 and they were married for 55 years.

Carol was born in Brookline, MA on July 12, 1944. She was a daughter of the late Joseph P. Riley and the late Evelyn (Dondero) Riley. In addition to her husband and children, she leaves behind: her loving brother Joseph Riley of Medford, MA, preceded in death by her loving sister Marie (Riley) Yurek-Ryder, and a half-sister Siobhan (Riley) McAuliffe. Also leaving behind her very special sister in-laws Wanda (Howard) Gallant and Diane Howard and was preceded in death by her sister in-laws Roberta (Howard) Doyle and Patricia (Howard) White along with many cherished nieces, nephews, extended family members and very special friends!

Words have not yet been created to express the sorrow of losing a wife and our mother. She absolutely loved life and was known as a “favorite aunt” by many of her nieces and nephews. She was quite the hostess and a joy to be around and loved entertaining at both her Massachusetts and Arizona homes. Of her many passions in life, she loved cooking and baking. She loved the Tucson Mountains and cactus in bloom, and most especially she loved the ocean. She loved raising her children and taking Robin to her Baton lessons and Baton competitions as a kid and loved taking Bobby to his baseball and hockey games a well.

As we grew from children to adults, she continued to treasure doing absolutely anything that involved our friends and us. She loved socializing, working, listening to music, reading, word search, going to movies, watching her favorite comedians, taking walks (especially by the beach), making crafts for the family, sewing, and Celtic dancing shows, her trips to New Orleans, Bermuda, Disney,

Las Vegas, and especially her dream vacation to Ireland with her husband. She cherished the family cottage weekend trips when we were young and having those Waltham Street extended family pool party cookouts. Thanksgiving and Christmas bring special memories of how much she enjoyed cooking holiday meals and making amazing ornaments. Some of her ornaments are more than 50 years old and we will treasure them forever.

She loved jumping in her car to take a ride to visit family and friends. If you needed her, she would show up for you, she loved sending cards to cheer anyone up that needed it. It brought her happiness to travel each year from AZ to MA to visit her friends and family and take in some fantastic New England seafood!! She loved going out on the Wee-Wee boat on the lakes in Cape Cod and fishing with her family. She loved her day trips to Gloucester and Rockport, MA. She enjoyed the simple things like talking to her loved ones, and especially spending quality time and fun time with her immediate family, going out to dinners, shows, and movies or even just a simple trip to the Dollar Tree!

She always had a witty sense of humor and loved to laugh with that thousand-watt smile she had! She loved to have fun.

We remember how proud she was and how proud we were when she earned an Associate of Applied Science degree in gerontology from Pima Community College at the age of 50 in Tucson where she became a social worker. She also held a security job in Tucson, AZ and continued working there until 2021.

No matter what illness she battled, she would still selflessly always ask others on the phone “How are you doing?”, “How are your kids?”, “What’s new?”, right up until she no longer could.

When asked recently what her greatest achievement in life was, she said it was her family and having her children and husband. She gave us everything we could want and more. Her strength, fight, resilience, compassion, love, caring, support, comfort, grace, and zest for life were truly inspiring.

She was a guardian angel, a saint and a best friend to her son, Robert (Bobby) and she was a best friend, the most incredible person she knew and learned “life”

from to her daughter, Robin. She was her husband’s love of his life, his “Betty Boop” and “Sunshine”. Little Green Apples was their song. She instilled morals and life lessons for us to learn and grow. She brought so many beautiful qualities into her family just by being herself. Carol was a believer in Jesus Christ and now rests in his peace.

We are incredibly thankful for the family that was in Arizona during the final days and after. Their presence helped us to navigate a comfortable transition for our beloved wife and mother and provided us with support in ways we didn’t know we would have needed. Thank you.

We will love and miss you for all eternity – we know you didn’t want to go and we didn’t want you to go - the hole in our hearts will never be filled – rest in peace and with no more pain our precious Mum and Betty Boop.

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