Anna Lee Howe: Tucsonan was friend indeed for those who were in need

Anna Lee Howe believed those two items could turn a bad day into a better one for people down on their luck.

"She really had a keen sense for zeroing in on what people need," said niece Krysti Kirimaua. "She always took toothbrushes and underwear to women's shelters. She'd say, 'Krysti, if you can brush your teeth and put on clean underwear, you're going to have a better day.' "

And Howe wanted to improve the lives of everyone she encountered.

"We'd go up to strangers if she saw they were having a tough time, if they were on the streets, especially if they had kids with them, and she'd say, 'I'm not a wealthy woman, but what could I do today to make your life more comfortable?' " Kirimaua said.

Kirimaua lives in California but moved in with her aunt for a year to be closer to her father after he was seriously injured in a 2003 car accident. That's when she saw, day-to-day, how much Howe did for others.

"She's a very generous, giving, self-sacrificing woman," nurse Deana Smith said.

When Smith was 16 she moved in with Howe even though the two had never met. Smith lived with Howe and her family for a year and even 21 years later, Howe considered Smith one of her daughters.

"My mom was terminally ill at the time and she (Howe) volunteered to take me in and finish raising me," Smith said. "In her quest to care for others I think she sometimes neglected herself."

Her preoccupation with helping others may be why Howe, who had a history of lung ailments, didn't realize she was seriously ill late last month with acute onset pneumonia. Howe died Sept. 25. She was 64.

Howe was born and raised in Tucson. A tall, gangly girl, she attended Miles Elementary, now Miles Exploratory Learning Center, where she befriended Yvonne Tellez when they were both 11 and in the sixth grade. They lived just blocks from each other on Eighth Street near the University of Arizona. Howe was the chatty, outgoing girl who befriended everyone and Tellez was shy and quiet.

Tellez remembers the first time she saw Howe. They were playing tennis in a gym class and Howe didn't let the cast on her broken arm keep her from swinging the racket with her other one. A few days later, Tellez was watching television when a local spot came on that featured performers from local dance studios. There was Howe, still with the cast on her arm, tap-dancing her heart out.

"I thought, 'Oh my gosh!' I was very reserved and I thought, 'Boy, she's something,' and that was very attractive to me. Everybody was her friend and she was very outgoing."

The two remained lifelong friends and both ended up working in the property-management business. Howe's mother owned and managed rental property and Howe eventually took over her business. Many of Howe's tenants were low-income and sometimes struggled to pay the rent.

"Instead of just putting them out on the street, she would help them with finding resources in the community," Tellez said. "She wouldn't give you a free ride, but she'd help you manage."

Howe directed her tenants to food banks, helped them apply for AHCCCS programs and gave some of them food and holiday gifts when they had none.

"There was one family, every month they got a load of toilet paper and clothes and food," Howe's daughter, Leanna Howe Cento, said. "One day I came home and she was doing laundry and she said, 'Well, there were these young kids on the street and I did their laundry.' "

It was the young kids on the street — homeless youth — who really tugged at Howe's heart.

After reading an Arizona Daily Star article in the mid-1980s about the then-new nonprofit Youth on Their Own, she immediately called the founder and volunteered.

The organization, started by Ann Young, provides financial assistance, basic necessities, and housing and educational opportunities to homeless teens. It was Young who facilitated Smith's move into the Howe family's spare bedroom.

Howe was a founding board member of Youth on Their Own and remained active in the non-profit until her death.

"Anna's … such a creative problem-solver," Young said. If there was anything she needed help with, Young would call Howe. Having lived in Tucson her entire life, Howe was plugged into the city. She had connections all over town and could find some individual or some organization to fill just about any need.

"She deserves all kinds of accolades for her quiet support of kids all over this city."

It was the little things she did for people living on streets that made the biggest impression on her family and friends.

During the summer, Howe froze water bottles to carry in her car and give to street-corner newspaper hawkers and panhandlers. She scoured yard sales for umbrellas to shade the homeless during the summer and blankets to keep them warm in the winter.

Kirimaua remembers Howe seeing a homeless woman and her child standing in the street in the rain a few years ago. Howe picked up the mother and child and drove them to one of her rental properties, where she let them live while she helped the woman improve her situation.

"She knew who lived behind a particular building and she'd check on them. She'd ask, 'Where have you been sleeping? Have you been eating?' These are people you'd be afraid to approach and she'd just pull up and call them over to the car and ask them, 'What size shoes do you wear? Just pull open the back of my SUV and pick out some shoes,' " Kirimaua said. Howe's vehicle contained shoes and clothes in all sizes for whoever needed them.

"She'd say, 'If you're homeless and have bad shoes, it's like having flat tires,' " Kirimaua said. "She was a character. I was amazed at how much she did in a day. I was in awe of her daily. She'd tell me, 'No matter how little money you have, you can always do something.' She touched a lot of lives."

Life Stories

This feature chronicles the lives of recently deceased Tucsonans. Some were well-known across the community. Others had an impact on a smaller sphere of friends, family and acquaintances. Many of these people led interesting — and sometimes extraordinary — lives with little or no fanfare. Now you'll hear their stories. Past "Life Stories" are online at go.azstarnet.com/lifestories