Mary Jane Howard

Mary Jane McMillan (Mainie) Howard, who died peacefully in Tyler, Texas, on February 9, 2026, once won a car in a raffle. Of course, if you ever met her, you already knew that. Just like you knew she was born in the tiny town of Oakwood, that she had four children, and was a Texas Longhorn fan par excellence.

By the time she had relayed this vital information to you she knew where you were born and raised, if your parents were still alive, and if you were by any chance an Aggie. Twenty questions was just getting started.

She was born many weeks premature in Oakwood, Texas, and, against all odds, survived. From the time she could crawl she was a miracle inside a whirlwind.

She was the youngest of three children born to Travers and Ella Belle McMillan.

She played volleyball in high school because she got to wear a nice new uniform, but it is unclear whether she ever saw time on the court. She would later confess that she was better at cheering than playing.

She left home at sixteen to attend Sam Houston State University, which she left after one year to attend the University of Texas at Austin. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree from UT in 1952.

While in college, she met the love of her life, Robert M. "Bo" Howard, and they married in 1953. Before marrying, she started her career as a lifelong schoolteacher in Corpus Christi, Texas. No teacher who ever put chalk to chalkboard was as proud as she was of her profession. In the 1970s, she went back to school at the University of Houston to obtain her certification to teach Distributive Education. If you wanted to get her riled up, all you had to do was suggest messing with Texas teacher retirement.

She was a lifelong traveler whose preferred method of transportation was the front passenger seat of a Chevrolet Suburban. She and Bo drove from the West Coast to the East Coast and most places in between. On her first trip to New York City, when she was in her 60s, she spent a good part of her trip asking strangers on the subway where they got their purse or their shoes as if the only two possible responses were Allday's in Atlanta or Dillard's in Texarkana.

It is fair to say that the people of New York City had never seen anything like her.

Mainie Howard was a person who reserved the right to change her mind about anything and everything… and often did. She believed that any plan was subject to change, often at the last minute. She awoke many mornings in Atlanta and, unbeknownst to her family, went to bed in St Louis simply because she had never seen the Gateway Arch there.

She loved football and golf on television, the University of Texas at Austin, her four children, and, perhaps more than anything, the United Methodist Church. At the time of her death, she was a loyal member of Pollard United Methodist Church in Tyler, Texas. Before that time, she had been a decades-long member of First United Methodist Church in Atlanta, Texas where she was a lifelong member of the Young Adult Sunday School class long after the members were "young" anything. On Sundays if she wasn't seated with Bo on the second row, directly behind Tom and Beth Mays, you had better organize the posse.

She was a strong believer in her Christian faith, and she believed that the best way to express that faith was through the United Methodist Church.

She loved Caddo Lake during any season and many of her favorite times were spent teaching grandchildren and their friends the many card games she loved to play. She would give them one practice hand, but after that, everyone was on their own. It is rumored that sometimes the pots approached $10. If you were coming to Caddo to stay or to visit, all she asked was that you bring a roll of pennies.

Mary Jane McMillan was born on June 25, 1932, exactly six months from Christmas, which she thought was just perfect. She is survived by her four children, Brent Howard of Tyler, Texas; Rebecca Gushanas and husband Peter of Wilmington, North Carolina; Lori Cole and husband Alan of Highlands Ranch, Colorado, and Amy Blackburn and husband John Ben of College Station, Texas; ten grandchildren; and twelve great grandchildren.

A Memorial service will be held on March 14, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. at Stewart Family Funeral Home in Tyler, Texas. In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be made to the General Fund of Pollard United Methodist Church or to a charity of your choice.