She is survived by her husband of 64 years, Edgar Neal Howard, her brother Charles, and also by her children: Candice Bocock and her husband Rick of Austin, Neal Howard and his wife Peggy of Katy; grandchildren Ryan Bocock (Dana) of Austin, Philip Bocock (Traci) of Houston, Lauren Bocock Overzet (Nelson) of Fort Worth, Kara Bocock Kim (Andrew) of Fate, Texas, Grace Howard of Houston, Ned Howard of Greenville, Texas, Amy Claire Howard of Midland, Texas and Hank Howard of College Station; and great-grandchildren Kayla, Rachel and Jessica Bocock of Austin; Isaiah, Edward, Richard, Ava, Gregory and Catherine Bocock of Houston; Zeb and Theo Overzet of Fort Worth.
Delores graduated from Columbus High School and moved to Houston to attend Southwestern Business College and work for Holt’s Sporting Goods. She was an avid traveler to such places as New York City, Havana, Mexico City, and Long Beach California but was in Houston on Father’s Day 1953 when she met her future husband at a family friend’s home.
Delores and Ed were charter members of St. Martin’s Lutheran Church in Sharpstown and then moved to the Wilchester area in 1966 and were active members of Memorial Drive Lutheran Church for over 50 years. Delores served faithfully in the church office for many of those years.
Delores loved the outdoors, particularly the Houston summers which were just warm enough for her to go on long walks through the neighborhood. She absolutely loved going fishing at a South Texas lodge and bringing back loads of speckled trout and redfish. When it cooled off in Houston, she and Ed would travel to the Cayman Islands, Hawaii, or go on cruises. She took up golf when Ed retired and notched a hole-in-one. She was a long-time Astros fan and was thrilled to go to the first World Series game in Houston back in 2005 (stayed all 14 innings) and then to celebrate the World Series victory in 2017.
Delores was the perfect Grandmommie. She loved having the grandchildren to her home one at a time so that they could be appropriately spoiled. She baked the best ginger snaps, pecan pralines, and pecan pies that you could imagine and loved bringing goodies to the weeklong family trips to Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels and beach trips to Galveston.
A celebration of her life will be On May 3, 2018 at 10:00 am at Memorial Oaks Funeral Home and Cemetery at 13001 Katy Freeway, Houston, Texas, 77079 with a graveside service and reception to follow.
Donations in honor of Delores may be made to Memorial Drive Lutheran Church in Houston, Texas.
