Marguerite Valerie Howmann, born June 2, 1932 in Los Angeles, California, passed peacefully on Thursday, December 14, 2017 in her Laguna Hills home. She was lovingly known as Margie to her husband and her sister, Mom to her five children, Grandma to her grandchildren and Marge to most others. Born to Lionel and Margaret Church, she has one sister, Lucretia (Pat) Barlog. Marguerite graduated from Hamilton High School in Los Angeles, in 1951, with Honors. She continued to live in Los Angeles with her parents where she met her husband to be, Bert Howmann. On December 28, 1952, she met Bert on a blind date, set up by her sister and sister's fiance, Bob Hoel. Marguerite and Bert were married August 15, 1953 at Forest Lawn, in Glendale, California.

She is survived by her husband, Bert, son Eric and daughter-in-law, Stacey, Son Dale and daughter-in-law Lorna, son Mark and daughter-in-law Moira, son Ivar, and Daughter Tamra. Grandchildren are; Kathryn and Spencer,Mirja and Kyle, Anders and Allison, Sierra, and John Wilhorn. Great grandchildren are; JT, Zoey, Benjamin, Jordan, Troy, james and Evan.

In 1959, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and was told she had six months to live. This was devastating news for a young mother with three children. She had been raised in Christian Science and at the age of 20, she dropped away from the religion. When faced with this problem, she said to Bert, what have I got to loose? I'm going to try Christian Science for healing. She worked with a Christian Science Practitioner who supported her metaphysically through prayer alone. Within one year she was completely free of the claim of cancer. The doctors who had originally diagnosed the problem, after much testing, substantiated the healing as complete.

She was a stay at home Mom for the early years of her marriage, about thirty years. She felt that it was very important that the children have a parent at home during their formative years. She loved being there when the children came home from school and to talk about their day.

After the children were all established in school, she decided to return to college and to the work force. While living in Covina, California, she attended Cal Poly until her mother became very ill and she stopped her studies to help her. In 1979. her mother passed on. She and her husband Bert, felt this was a good time to relocate to Mt. Shasta, in Northern California.

At age 56, she decided on a teaching career. She was hired by the local community college to teach English as a second language. During this time she was asked to set up a reading lab for students who were having difficulty reading. while working at the college she filled up all of her spare time by taking every class available. Also, during this time, she started a reading clinic for elementary school students. When finishing her AA degree at the community college, she enrolled at the University of Southern Oregon. There, she received a bachelor's and Masters degree in English and Reading. She graduated with honors and then continued to teach at the College of the Siskiyou in Weed, California. She taught there for a few more years then decided to return to Southern California. While there she taught at San Bernardino College, Riverside College and Cero Coso College in Ridgecrest, California. In early 2010, she decided to retire. She was a very caring person and was dearly loved by many of her students.
Marguerite was very happily married to her husband, Bert, for 64 years. She and Bert loved the outdoors. She was an avid camper and kayaking, water skiing, cross country skiing, were among her favorite things to do. Also, she loved traveling across the county in their motor home, often with their five children.