Alva Review-Courier -

Ellen "Ellie" Marie Howe, 64 of Bloomington, Illinois, passed away at 5:04 a.m. on Wednesday March 3, 2021, at Carle BroMenn Medical Center in Normal, Illinois.

Funeral services for Ellie were held at 11 a.m. on Monday March 8, 2021, at Calvert & Metzler Memorial Home in Bloomington, with Reverend Tiffany Black officiating. Interment followed in Park Hill Cemetery in Bloomington.

Ellie was born in Alva, Oklahoma, on June 20, 1956, to Alfred Angelo and Mary Emma Bell Cantrell Kriegh. They preceded her in death in 1994 and 2009.

She married Thomas Howe on June 6, 1982, in Alva; he survives. She is also survived by two sisters, Mary (Jim) McDonald of Cherokee and Janet Speaker of Enid; one brother, Alfred Leslie (Keli) Kriegh of Vine Grove, Kentucky; and 17 nieces and nephews.

Ellie worked as an intensive care nurse until health problems forced her to retire. She had lifelong interests in art, music, dogs and gardening. She served as choir director as a teenager, played the clarinet, and was active in choral music at the churches she attended throughout her life. In recent years she was very active in the Festival of Trees, sponsored by the Baby Fold, where she designed trees, made decorations and also encouraged others to do the same.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Baby Fold or the Children's Discovery Museum.