The Shadow
Mrs. Ella Mae Griffith Howell, 90, passed away Friday, November 4, 2011 in Phoenix, Ariz. in a hospice facility of complications from aneurysm surgery.
She was born June 20, 1921 in Clifton Forge, the daughter of the late Shelah Cary Griffith, Sr. and Virginia Paxton Griffith.
While attending Dunlap High School, she worked at the Dunlap Tea Room until graduating in 1938. She attended college in Farmville, and worked at Paramount Restaurant and Industrial Rayon in Covington before moving to Dayton, Ohio where she met and married her husband, Howard Howell, Sr. who preceded her in death. She moved to Phoenix from Dayton several years ago where she owned and operated a restaurant until her overdue retirement. She was an avid bingo player and loved Las Vegas.
She was also preceded in death by her daughter, Sandy Shoenstein; her infant granddaughter, Beth Ann Howell; sisters, Catherine Smith, Mary Tucker and Wilda Gilmore; brothers, Baby Clarence, Jack, Jr., Jimmy, Ernest and Larry Griffith and Wayne Simmons who was reared as a brother.
She is survived by her son, Howard Howell and wife, Ann of Phoenix; one sister, Barbara Long of White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.; granddaughters, Cindy Hill, Becky Wittas and husband, Michael; grandsons, Kevin Howell, James Howell and wife, Lesley, all of Phoenix; three great grandchildren, Jenny Hill, Adam Howell and Connor Wittas; and numerous nephews, nieces and cousins.
A memorial service will be held on Thursday in Phoenix, Ariz.
