Emma Tyler Howard

Emma (née Jonathan) Tyler Howard was born in State College, PA to David Lawrence Howard and Anna Kathleen Tyler Howard on March 8, 2000. Emma died peacefully in her bed on August 23, 2023 at 23 years old. She is survived by her parents and one older brother, Christian Lawrence Howard.

Emma graduated from Cary High School in 2018 where she played clarinet in the marching band. She reveled in telling the story of her senior solo In the Bleak Midwinter, which was twice as long as it was supposed to be because the other clarinets missed their cue. She aspired to become a lawyer: she loved the argumentative nature of law and had a prodigious memory for details – and a sarcastic wit which her friends and family enjoyed.

She was enrolled at Wake Tech in the accounting program, taking one course at a time in her characteristically-stubborn pursuit of a degree. Emma also worked full-time as a waitress at Superica in Cary, where she enjoyed the pace of food service that gave her the chance to serve people with a smile. Helping people was key to her gentle soul from the time she would hold the hands of younger cousins, unsteady brothers, or dear grandmothers to the present day where she offered what she had to anyone she encountered in every way she could.

In the last few months of her life, Emma was reigniting her love for tabletop strategy games and preparing to join Christian in local Warhammer 40k tournaments by painting her models and memorizing the statistics for each character. She was also active in a long-running D&D campaign with friends. Emma marched in her second Pride parade this year and loved seeing Broadway musicals like Hamilton. She enjoyed reading and playing computer games. And she loved to text random quotations from movies or songs, fully expecting that family and friends would produce the next line.

The last six years of Emma’s life brought her many health challenges, from early hallucinations to recent seizures. She was so tired. Services will take place at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Raleigh on Thursday, August 31, 2023 at 4 pm with a reception to follow. Donations on Emma’s behalf can be made to Planned Parenthood.

“The trumpet shall sound. And the dead shall be raised, shall be raised incorruptible.”

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may shared below for the Howard family.