Obit – Mrs. Leila Anne Howard
Mrs. Leila Anne Howard age 74 of South Carthage lost her earthly battle, but had earned an eternal home with God and the reuniting with her husband, parents, and sister, whom she loved so much and were dearly missed by her. Mrs. Howard was pronounced deceased with family at her bedside at 10:35 a.m. Monday morning April 21, 2025 at the Alive Hospice Residence in Murfreesboro where she was admitted March 31st suffering from dementia.
Her former longtime pastor, Bro. Randy Teat, officiated at the 11 a.m. Saturday morning April 26th funeral services from the Carthage Chapel of Sanderson Funeral Home. Burial followed beside her husband in the Garden of Gethsemane at the Smith County Memorial Gardens.
She was one of two daughters born to the late Edward Alex Proffitt who died at the age of 82 on September 21, 2007 and Leila Belle Day Proffitt who died at the age of 80 on April 30, 2008 and was born Leila Anne Proffitt at the former McFarland Hospital in Lebanon on September 5, 1950.
Her sister, Elizabeth R. “Libby” Proffitt Gregory succumbed to cancer at the age of 45 on August 11, 1991 at the age of 45.
Mrs. Howard was a 1968 graduate of Smith County High School where she had a triple major in Home Economics, Business Education, and Music. Active in the Future Homemakers of America, she was the songleader her junior year, Parliamentarian her senior year and was a recipient of the F.H.A. junior degree her sophomore year, was a member of the chorus and Fall Festival her final three years, in the Spring Festival her sophomore and junior year, the sweet sixteen her junior year and the Pep Club her final three years at S.C.H.S.
The statement made of her in the ’68 annual was; “Beauty is the first gift nature gives to a woman”.
She received her Associates Degree in Cosmetology from the Volunteer State Community College in Gallatin and was a Tennessee Licensed beautician and retired in 1994.
She was united in marriage on April 12, 1968 to Colburn Roscoe (professionally known as Mr. Carl) Howard Jr. He died as a result of cancer on April 16, 1993 following only twenty-five years and four days of marriage. The ceremony was solemnized by their then church pastor, Eld. Rob Roy Banks of the Carthage Emmanuel Church of Christ.
At the time of her death and for many years Mrs. Howard had been a faithful member of the Abundant Harvest Worship Center in South Carthage.
Surviving are her two children, Amie Howard Kirby and husband Jerrell of Cartersville, Georgia, Scott Howard and wife Donna Keaton Howard of Lebanon; four grandchildren, Katlin Crabb and husband Adam of Hendersonville, Retta Otting and Husband Dylan, Karla Kirby, and Porter Kirby all of Cartersville, Georgia; four great grandchildren, Ethan Sanders, Grayson Crabb, Hannah and Charlie Crabb.
SANDERSON of CARTHAGE
