Barbara Faye Howard

Barbara was born April 7, 1930, in Mobile, Alabama, to Charles Brock Peavy and Alma America Jernigan Peavy. She was the third of five Peavy children. She graduated from Murphy High School in 1947, receiving her AA degree at Graceland College in 1949, and earning her BA degree from Graceland in 1974. She also did graduate work at the University of Kansas and St. Paul School of Theology, where she received an award for biblical scholarship.

In January 1951, she met the love of her life, Richard Perry Howard, on her second day of work at Herald Publishing House in Independence, Missouri. They married in June 1953, and welcomed, with equal measures of trepidation and excitement, four children: Les (1954), Jim (1956), Joy (1959), and Kip (1961).

Barbara was an editor and writer at Herald House for 28 years. She was ordained an elder in the Community of Christ in 1986, among the vanguard of women clergy in the denomination. Serving the church on many committees and task forces, Barbara was a spiritual mentor and mother to countless people around the world who were inspired and nourished by books, hymns, and articles she authored, retreats and institutes she led, sermons she gave, casseroles she made, and the uncontainable and effervescent love she shared.

Barbara is survived by her husband of 71 ¾ years, Richard, her four children Les (Debra Winger) of New York, Jim (Penny Krugman) of Overland Park, Joy (Pamela Werntz) of Boston, and Kip of Tampa. She is also survived by 13 grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren, her sister, Beverly Stowell, her brother, Charles Peavy, numerous nieces and nephews, and innumerable children of her heart.

The family is deeply grateful for the thoughtful and generous care Barbara received from the staff of St. Luke’s East Hospital and John Knox Village in Lee’s Summit, Missouri and for the endless compassion of Barbara’s extended family, friends, and admirers from around the globe.

A Celebration of Life service for Barbara will be April 6, 2025, at 2pm, at Walnut Gardens Community of Christ, 19201 East R.D. Mize Road, Independence, MO 64057.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be offered to Outreach International, 112 West 18th Street, Kansas City, MO, USA 64108 or https://outreach-international.org/