Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....Bretz, Rhoda Maria August 20, 1920
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Marilyn Ransom mlnransom@chartermi.net June 13, 2010, 7:11 pm

The Lake Odessa Wave, Friday, August 27, 1920
Rhoda Maria Howlett was born near Ionia, in Ionia county, Michigan on January 
30th, 1859 and departed this life at her home in Albion, Michigan on August 
20th, at the age of sixty-one.  She was one of a family of eight children, her 
parents being Edward R. Howlett and Elizabeth Olmstead.  Her two brothers, 
George of Green River, Utah, and Hebert of Marion, Michigan, and her sisters, 
Mrs. Fred Compton of Grand Rapids, Mrs. Walter Post of Mulliken, Mrs. John 
Drake of Sunfield and Miss Ednah Howlett of Grand Rapids survive her.  One 
sister, Blanche, preceded her in death several years ago.

Her early life was spent entirely within the bounds of Ionia County, and it 
was here she met and was married to Oliver Joseph Bretz on August 15, 1877.  
They established their home on a farm near Lake Odessa and have later lived in 
Saranac, Rudyard and Albion.  Their five children, Dr. J. Harlan Bretz of 
Chicago, Mrs. Levi Goodwin of Red Oak, Iowa, Miss Martha Bretz of Albion, Mr. 
Ernest C. Bretz and Mrs. Guy Vroman of Royal Oak live to cherish the sacred 
memory of the woman who gave them life.  

When a young woman Rhoda surrendered her life to the control of Him who made 
the supreme sacrifice for us all.  She joined the United Brethren church and 
later, upon removal to another community, she with her husband placed their 
membership in the Methodist Episcopal church.  She considered it her greatest 
duty and privilege to rear her children for a bigger and better station in 
life, a greater value to society, and a deeper religious culture than she had 
been privileged to attain.  She set ever before them as an example to sterling 
Christian character.  During her long illness her will has been submissive to 
Him who doeth all things well.  While she longed to recover that she might 
spend more years with her dear ones, yet she was reconciled to go if it was 
God’s will, and was ready to answer the summons when it came.

A brief funeral service was held in the Albion home on Sunday afternoon 
conducted by Rev. J. W. Steffe, a former pastor.  The regular funeral service 
was held at Lake Odessa in the United Brethren church and was conducted by 
Rev. Isaac Mourer, under whose pastoral influence she was converted, and by 
whom she was married.  Burial was made at Lake Odessa, the service at the 
grave being read by Rev. Steffe.

To pay tribute in words to the life of a true wife and mother is impossible.  
To express the self-sacrifice, self-forgetfulness, the patience, and 
gentleness of such a mother as she, is beyond the power of pen or tongue.  Her 
life has truly proven the words—“We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not 
breaths; in feelings, not in figures on a dial, we should count time by heart-
throbs.  He most lives who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.”


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