Haverhill – Barbara P. (Martlin) Howard, 90, of Haverhill died Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2014, at the Hannah Duston Healthcare Center in Haverhill. She was 90.Before entering nursing care, she lived with her daughter and son-in-law, Katherine and Kenneth P. Johnson of Haverhill.She leaves two sons, Edmund W. Bressler and his wife, Tammy, of Eliot, Maine, and Dr. Martin S. Bressler and his wife, Dr. Linda Bressler, of Houston, Texas, and her brother, Brenton E. Martlin of Virginia Beach, Va. She was predeceased by two husbands, Luckey W. Bressler and the Rev. Irving E. Howard, and by her daughters Pamela Schroth and Katherine A. Johnson. She leaves seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.She was born in Croydon, Surrey, England, in 1924, the daughter of Cyril and Edith Martlin. During World War II, Croydon was the site of London’s main airport and was a target for extensive German bombing and rocket attacks during the Blitz. The family home was leveled by German attacks. During the war, she met an American soldier, Luckey W. Bressler of York County, Penn. At the war’s end, the couple were married and Barbara came to live in the United States, first in Pennsylvania, later in Massachusetts, where she became an American citizen and raised her family.After the death of her first husband, Barbara married the Rev. Irving E. Howard, a professor of finance and Congregational minister in Dudley, Mass. The Howards later moved to Maine and built their retirement home there.Barbara worked for many years as a librarian, serving as the children’s librarian at the public library in Oxford, Mass., later as library director at the Libby Memorial Library in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, until her retirement.The Howards settled in their retirement home in Columbia, Maine, which they built themselves while living in a single-room cabin on their property. There, Barbara indulged her passion for books, gardening and cats. She very much enjoyed the role of country hostess and loved cooking for friends and family.Arrangements are in the care of the Kevin B. Comeau Funeral Home, 486 Main St., Haverhill. Calling hours are private. Burial will be Monday, Dec. 1, at 1:30 p.m. at Pine Grove Cemetery, Cherryfield, Maine. Flowers may be sent, or a donation made to the Salem Animal Rescue League, 4 SARL Drive, Salem, N.H., 03079. Please visit Comeau Funeral Home on Facebook, or www.comeaufuneral.com.
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