Miriam Sitler Howard

Miriam Sitler Howard passed away peacefully on July 19, 2026 at the Arleigh Burke Pavilion in McLean, Virginia. Born April 10, 1935 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania she lived a full 91 years, doing Zumba classes just days before she passed away. Being born to a Navy Chaplain, Carl Moses Silter, and a homemaker, Mary Yarian Wilhelm Sitler, she lived a peripatetic, military life, residing in many different places, from California to the American Samoa Islands to Germany to so many years in Virginia that she considered herself a true Virginian. As a high school teenager, Miriam met her to-be husband, William Eager Howard III in Portsmouth, Virginia where Bill’s father, also in the Navy, was stationed.

After majoring in German from Oberlin College, Miriam was married on June 22, 1957 in Chelsea, Massachusetts. She and Bill moved to Ann Arbor where she worked at the University of Michigan library while Bill taught at the University. In Ann Arbor she became a mother, giving birth to William Eager Howard, IV and then, Jennifer Miriam Howard. Soon after Jennifer’s birth, the family moved to Green Bank, West Virginia then to Charlottesville, Virginia. Her family also lived in Fredericksburg, Virginia and then to McLean, Virginia.

Throughout all her moves one of the first things that Miriam did was to find a Lutheran church. As a PK (Preacher’s Kid) being a Lutheran was more than a box she would check under ‘religion,’ but as a way of life. And at each church where she was a member, she joined the choir, singing either soprano or alto. Her musical interests and talents stretched beyond the church choir loft. She sang in many other choirs including the Charlottesville Oratory Society, Cathedral Choral Society of Washington, DC, and New Dominion Chorale to name a few. She often said that ‘music was close to Godliness’ for her.

Miriam was a long time member of the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in McLean, Virginia. There, she taught Vacation Bible School, led a Women’s Group of older members, played Bridge and inter-aged volleyball and rung in the bell choir. She acted in church plays and she would also play the piano if a need arose.

As a dedicated housewife she ran the household, decorated beautifully for the holidays, entertained almost non stop while also raising two children. As a competitive athlete even before Title 9, she won her Intramural Letter at Oberlin playing volleyball, and as an adult she played in several tennis leagues. She also loved animals, having cats and dogs (often at the same time) and finding strays that she would take in and claim as her own.

She moved into Vinson Hall in 2015 and continued to live an active life there, participating in Pickleball, Zumba, Tai Chi, Cornball, Chair Yoga and Water Volleyball as well as auditioning and acting in various plays, and of course singing in Vinson Voices. She also ran Saturday Movie Nights where she would plan out and accommodate residents’ movie requests.

She considered her family her greatest achievement and she is survived by her two children, Bill and Jennifer, along with Bill’s wife Jayne, and 4 grandchildren: Lucia Cooke, Hudson Cooke, John Howard and Kathrine Howard. She will be deeply missed.