Obituary of Jean Lasher Howard

Long-time Belvedere resident and San Francisco native, Jean Lasher Howard, 99, passed away peacefully of natural causes on November 2, 2023. She was at home in Olympia, Washington, surrounded by family.

 

For more than 30 years, Jean worked for the Belvedere Land Company, and later as an agent with Prudential Real Estate in Belvedere-Tiburon until her retirement in 2004.

 

Jean was born on July 27, 1924, in San Francisco, California, to Charles and Mildred (Olds) Lasher.  Growing up on Clement Street, she watched the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge from her bedroom window, and walked its length on opening day, May 27, 1937.  She attended George Washington High School and then the College of the Pacific in Stockton, California, before joining Western Airlines in 1943, where she worked at its downtown San Francisco office throughout WWII.  Before her marriage, she traveled widely -- to Cuba, Mexico, and throughout post-war Europe, beginning a life-long passion for travel.

 

Jean married Geraardt Myleed “Bud” Howard in March 1952 and the couple moved to Bud’s waterfront cottage on Mar East Road, Tiburon, a gathering place for their many friends, and where a drink at Sam’s Anchor Café on Main St. was just a short boat ride away on their beloved motorboat, ‘The Thing.’  Shortly after their daughter, Dana, was born in 1953, they moved to San Rafael Ave. in Belvedere; their son, Richard, arrived in 1956.  During this time, Jean was active in Sunny Hills Services, a Marin program that provided individualized care for troubled adolescents.  Bud was one of the Belvedere Tennis Club’s four founding members, and was actively involved in finding its site and recruiting its first members. He died of cancer in September 1971.  In 2009, after 58 years in Belvedere-Tiburon, Jean moved to Ashland, Oregon, to be near her son, Richard, a longtime actor with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.  In 2018, she moved to Olympia to be near her daughter, Dana.  

 

Jean was a force of nature on the tennis court and the golf course, where she was known for her killer serve and beautiful swing.  She balked at no sport – from skiing to roller skating to horseshoes to bocci ball from the seat of her wheelchair in her 90s.

 

She was also a fourth-generation Marin County resident, the great-granddaughter of Daniel Olds, Jr., who, in 1856, with his brother, Nelson Horatio Olds, purchased 4000 acres of land south and east of Olema from the original Spanish land grantee, Rafael Garcia; part of this land is now the Stewart Ranch.

 

Jean is survived by her son, Richard Charles Howard and his wife, Penny Metropulos of Ashland, Oregon; her daughter, Dana Howard Botka, of Olympia; a grandson, Nicholas Botka of Ashland; a granddaughter, Anne Botka of Olympia; and many, many devoted friends and family members.  She was preceded in death by her husband, and a sister, Elizabeth “Betty” Weaver.

 

No services are planned at this time.  

 

Please leave condolences or share memories and photos on the Tribute Wall to the left.

 

 

 

 

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Jean Howard, please visit Tribute Store