Janet Leslie Howard (nee Cooper-Ruppert) passed away peacefully on Feb. 17, 2023.
She was born in Peterborough, England.
She came to America on the Queen Mary I on March 14, 1946, into New York Harbor, with her mother, Ethel Rebecca Ruppert, who was a World War II bride and her sister, Elsie Christina Ruppert Germann, where they were met by her father, Russell William Ruppert.
She grew up in Haskell, where she attended Haskell Elementary School and Lakeland Regional High School.
She met and married James Stanley Howard Sr. in 1960. Jim had a daughter Darla by his first marriage and they had four children of their own, three daughters and one son: Linda Foley and her husband, Jim, living in North Carolina; James Howard Jr. and his wife, Linda, living in New Jersey; Patricia Foster and her husband, Ed, living in Pennsylvania; and Jennifer Howard living in North Carolina.
She became a U.S. citizen in 1967.
Janet drove a school bus for the West Milford Board of Education for 15 years, went on to be a private secretary for an architect in Paterson, also for 15 years, and retired at the age of 62.
She was predeceased by her parents, Ethel and Russell; her husband James Howard Sr.; her daughter Patricia; and her step-daughter, Darla.
She had 14 grandchildren, Jo-Jo, Jamie, Jake, John and Jeff Foley; Steven and Brianna Howard; Austin, Zack and Chance Foster; and Nina, Sarah, Louie and Grace Pepe. She was blessed with 18 great-grandchildren, Aidan, Caroline, Juliet and Rhys Howard; Haisley Kimble; Isabella, Jordan and Logan Foley; Jacob, Liam and Linnaea Foley; Kaleigh, Grayden and Lucas Foley; Brein, Leander and Louisa Foley; and Olivia Kirner.
Friends may call at Richards Funeral Home, 1440 Union Valley Road, West Milford, on Saturday, Feb. 25 from 1 to 3 and 5 to 7 p.m. A funeral will be at 6:30 p.m. Private disposition. She will be interred in the Brigadier General William C. Doyle Veterans Cemetery in Wrightstown, with her husband, James, and her parents at a later date.