Sr. Jane Mary Howard, IHM, 98, died April 25 at the IHM Health Care Center in Monroe.

Sr. Howard was one of four children born to Francis and Clara (Mulligan) Howard. She was born Nov. 7, 1915, in Jackson, and named Mary. After attending St. Mary Elementary and High Schools in Adrian, she entered the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Monroe in 1936 and received the religious name Sr. Jane Mary.

Sr. Howard earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the former St. Joseph College (Adrian) and the University of Detroit. She attended Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., earning both a master’s and doctorate degrees in economics. During these years of study, she taught elementary and secondary grades at St. Mary School and St. Mary Academy in Monroe and at St. Philip in Battle Creek.

Sr. Howard then began a career teaching at Marygrove College in Detroit, where she ministered for 23 years. She also served as chairwoman of the Applied Science Department, as well as an interim president of the college. Her next teaching ministries were at Siena Heights College in Adrian, and Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. She served as treasurer of Marygrove College for two years before moving to the Weston School of Theology, Cambridge, Mass., as treasurer and administrator of higher education.

In 1992, Sr. Howard returned to Bloomfield Hills and volunteered in the Stephen Ministry at St. Regis Parish. She moved to Norman Towers in Monroe in 2001 and later retired to the motherhouse and continued to work in the IHM Service Office.

Sr. Howard is survived by nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by sisters, Mary Elizabeth and Priscilla, and brother, Philip.

The Mass of the Resurrection was celebrated in the IHM Motherhouse Chapel on April 29. Burial is in St. Mary Cemetery on the Motherhouse Campus. Memorials to the IHM Retirement Fund, 610 W. Elm Ave., Monroe, MI 48162-7909.