Emily Buttaro

Emily Lockwood Howe Buttaro, 90, of Shoreview, MN, formally Aberdeen, SD, passed away Tuesday, October 17, 2023. She left this world surrounded by her family with a prayer and birds out her window.

Mass of Christian Burial will be at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, October 27, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Aberdeen, with Father Jeffrey Schulte officiating.

Burial will follow at St. Mary’s Cemetery. A time of fellowship and light lunch will follow the burial.

Schriver’s Memorial Mortuary and Crematory, 414 5th Avenue NW, Aberdeen, is in charge of arrangements.  Family and friends may sign the online guestbook at www.schriversmemorial.com.

Emily Lockwood Howe was born to James and Henrietta (Wood) Howe on April 12, 1933, in Boston, MA. She attended Greenwich Country Day School and graduated high school from Rosemary Hall, in Greenwich, CT. In her school years, Emily was called a “natural athlete” and was the captain of her field hockey team. She just loved talking about when her team beat the men’s team from the Netherlands. Emily graduated from Vassar College in 1955.

Emily married Peter Joseph Buttaro on May 7, 1960. They moved to Aberdeen in 1967, where they spent more than 45 years as active members of the community, raising their three children. Emily worked with her husband, publishing a series of educational books covering principles of long-term health care administration as preparation for the national licensure exam. They, and a single employee, did all the work themselves, from writing, editing, and printing to distributing them across the country.

Nevertheless, Emily always found time to have fun. She participated in the Moose and the Knights of Columbus. She volunteered for the Dacotah Prairie Museum and Birthright. She loved golf, bridge, bowling, painting, drawing, senior shape-up… and ice cream, lots and lots of ice cream. Emily even kept her East Coast roots alive by having an annual lobster feed in her backyard.  

Blessed in sharing her life are children: Tina (Robb Puffenberger) Buttaro of Philadelphia, Pete (Heather) Buttaro of Columbus, NE, and Rieta (Chris) Mikkelsen of St. Paul, MN; grandchildren: Jazz, Riley, Mason, Jens, and Ben; great-grandchildren: Journey, Zeb, Davey, Charlie, and Vojta; and sisters: Rieta Trepiccione and Edith Goodnight.

Emily was preceded in death by her husband, Pete, and her brother, James Howe.

Family remembers Emily saving and sorting through a stack of organizations she wanted to donate to every year, and she always set aside St. Jude as one of her first priorities. With that in mind, in lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent in Emily’s name to St. Jude at https://raise.stjude.org/fundraiser/5050257

To send flowers to the family, please visit our floral store.