Jennie Marshall Stokes Howe of Gloucester Point, Virginia, died on September 1, 2023. Born on October 3, 1938 in Crewe, Virginia, she was the daughter of Marshall Gregory Stokes and Virginia Maben Stokes. She was predeceased by her brother, John Maben Stokes, and their parents.

She is survived by her husband of 59 years, Robert Bowman Howe Jr. and their sons, Glenn Bowman Howe of Sherman Oaks, Calif., and Robert Benjamin Howe of Longmont, Colo.; sisters-in-law, Elizabeth M. Crawley Stokes of Charlottesville, Va., and Margery Howe Winsett (Ron) of Bonita Springs, Fla.; a grandson in Calif.; several nieces and nephews, and a world full of cousins.

Jennie considered herself fortunate to have been in the 50th class of Blackstone High School (Class of ’57) and in the Class of ’61 at Westhampton College. After teaching in Henrico County for two years, she enjoyed attending the Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Richmond for a year before marrying in 1964 and completing graduate school with Bob at Virginia Tech. The next five years involved seven moves with the Army, including Bob’s two years in Vietnam. They enjoyed a year in Germany and continued to relish hosting friends from around the globe.

Volunteering was her main “occupation,” but jobs at the Red Cross and VCU were interspersed with Friendship Force exchanges overseas and family travels across-country in their pop-top VW.

The family settled in Chester, Va., where their sons could walk to school and Bob had a five-minute drive to work.
In 1991, she and Bob retired to Gloucester Point, where he could fish. Gloucester was soon preparing for Pocahontas’s 400th birthday, and this got Jennie “hooked on” genealogy, a project she thoroughly enjoyed, as she discovered how “the whole world is kin!”

Since her early ancestors are buried there, a visitation will be held on Friday, September 22 from 3-5 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall of Abingdon Episcopal Church, 4645 George Washington Memorial Hwy., Gloucester, Va.

At a later date, following a regular Sunday service at her hometown Blackstone Presbyterian Church, her ashes will be buried in the Maben family plot in Lakeview Cemetery, 8th Street, Blackstone, Va.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Blackstone Presbyterian Church, 301 Church Street, Blackstone, Va. 23824, or to a favorite charity.