Corrine Rose (Windus) Howard

Corrine Rose (Windus) Howard passed away peacefully in her sleep on August 19, 2023, dreaming her way to heaven.

Corrine was born in Duluth, MN on March 22, 1935, to Rose (Meyer) and Harry Windus, the first of three children. She attended St. James Grade School and high school at St. Scholastica, eventually graduating college from there cum laude with a Bachelor of Science (Teaching) degree in 1957. Some of her favorite memories of her childhood that she would share, especially in these last few months, was going to the North Shore with her folks and fishing with her dad.

On March 2, 1957, she married James Peter Howard from Duluth, whom she always professed she fell in love with in the 4th grade when he was the new kid in class from Chicago. And Jim must have fallen in love with her too because he gave her a wooden ruler with a heart scratched on the back with J + C, which Corrine kept all these years. The newlyweds settled in Duluth and a year later had their first daughter, Barbara Jean, followed by; Roberta Helen and Loretta Rose (twins), Catherine Anne, Christopher John, and Nicholas Peter. Shortly after Nick was born, the family moved to Eau Claire, WI. She and Jim fell in love with the city and lived there for the rest of their lives.

Corrine loved being a mother and homemaker sewing pretty matching dresses for the girls and allowing the boys to be boys and get dirty! But she also made sure they all knew how to cook, do laundry, clean house, sew and mend their cloths, and learn to swim so that they would someday be successful adults. As her children grew up and she found more time on her hands, she became involved in all sort of craft projects from ceramics to "carpet" wall hangings to seasonal church banners and so much more. Her flower and rock gardens were impressive works of art. She also missed having babies around so she would babysit little ones in her home and particularly, the four Scott girls at their home. They all adored Mrs. Howard and she adored them.

And then she discovered a new hobby - photography. She received a camera for Christmas one year and took several photography classes at the tech school and according to her granddaughter Allison, "She became hooked on it." And she got very good at it too from flowers to insects to grandbaby's being born to construction sites to stained glass windows to mountains and lakes and rivers and her family. She joined Triniteam, a not-for-profit social service agency in Eau Claire and volunteered countless hours putting together slides shows of her photography to music and presenting them to various groups in the area. Corrine even presented her programs to the men incarcerated in the Eau Claire County jail! They told her they loved her Alaska slide shows the best from when she visited Robin when she lived there. Then Corrine tried her hand at abstract photography playing with light, glass, and reflections and her photography really took off. Her end results were often simply stunning and won many awards in the contests she entered. For several years, many of her pieces were displayed at the Eau Claire Library.

Corrine was a good, loving, kind, wonderful, beautiful Christian woman with a strong Catholic faith. She had a lovely opera-like singing voice and enjoyed playing piano just like her mother and brother. It boggles the mind to think of the hundreds and hundreds of lives she touched throughout her life. She shall be missed always.

Corrine is survived by: four of her children, Robin "Bobbie", Cathy, Chris (Judith), and Nick (Dori); 2 granddaughters, Cassie (Sean) and Allison; 10 grandsons, Matt (Tessa), Nick, Chris Jr. (Shannon), Charlie (Stephenie), John (Julie), Sam ( Shelby), Dan, Jason (Shannon), Tony (Ashley), and Nate (Laura); 9 great granddaughters and 6 great grandsons; son-in-law Darin Erickson; many sisters- and brothers-in-law and nieces and nephews, cousins, and her special friend, Jim "Sweetie Pie" from Orchard Hills Assisted Living. Corrine was preceded in death by her husband, infant daughter, Loretta, adult daughter, Barb, infant granddaughter, Rachel Rose, her parents, brother, Ted Windus, sister, Mary Lou Gardepy, brother-in-law, George Paplior, sister-in-law, Alice (Howard) Norlund, and mother and father-in-law, Helen and Tom Howard.

The family wishes to thank Orchard Hills Assisted Living, Dove Healthcare West, and Mayo Hospice Care for taking care of Corrine during her last years on her own and at the end of her life. She was loved and adored by everyone she met there according to observed interactions and all the aids and nurses who came to see her during her last few days and shared their love for her with family members.

A Mass of Christian Burial for Corrine will be held on Thursday, August 24, 2023 at 11:00 AM at St. Olaf Catholic Church, 3220 Monroe St., Eau Claire with Father James R. Kurzynski officiating. Visitation will be two hours prior to the service at the church. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery in Eau Claire. Arrangements were entrusted to Lenmark-Gomsrud-Linn Funeral and Cremation Services in Eau Claire. Online condolences for Corrine's family may be left at www.lenmarkfh.com.

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