Visitation: 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m., Thursday, June 6, 2019
Location: St. Mary’s Star of the Sea
Funeral Mass: 11:00 a.m., Thursday, June 6, 2019
Location: St. Mary’s Star of the Sea
Interment: Peninsula Memorial Park
Ouida-Gay Upchurch Howell, 79, passed away on Saturday, May 25, 2019 surrounded by family after a short illness. Ouida-Gay was born in Norfolk and was the youngest of 5 children. She was a graduate of Norview High School. She began working as a telephone operator before getting married and moving to the Peninsula and starting her family. Soon after the birth of her second child, she began a 40+ year career at Holloman Pontiac and Peninsula Honda. Her co-workers quickly became her extended family; however, being a grandmother became her favorite job.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Colquitt Alfred Upchurch and Marie Ethel Upchurch; her siblings, Anna Aurora Mueller, Virginia Hope Leary, Dorothy Marie Bagnell and Colquitt Alfred Upchurch, Jr. She is survived by her daughter, Kelly Ann Howell-Henley and her husband, Cody Michael Henley; her son, Kenneth Colquitt Howell and his wife, Mary Lynn Bradley-Howell; former husband, Kenneth Roy Howell, Jr.; her grandchildren, Rhett Coleman Henley, Morgan Frances Howell, Madison Nicole Howell, Tyler Colquitt Howell.
The family will receive friends on Thursday, June 6, 2019 from 10:00a.m-11:00a.m. at St. Mary’s Star of the Sea on Fort Monroe. A Funeral Mass will begin at 11a.m. at the church by Rev. Father Eric Anokye. Interment will follow at Peninsula Memorial Park. Her granddaughter, Morgan, wrote: “Mimi was such a model of love for me, I feel like the best way to honor her memory is to send more love out in the world.” In lieu of flowers, please donate your time or money to a cause close to your heart. Arrangements by Weymouth Funeral Home.