Christine Marie Champion Howard was born on December 22, 1961 under the sign of Capricorn. The youngest of 5 children, she is the daughter of Katie Marie Jones and Leon Alfred Champion and had three brothers, Alfred, Stanley, Steve, and one sister, Frances. She was born in Raleigh and grew up in Knightdale, Angier and Kennebec. As a teenager, she worked on tobacco farms around Angier and Kennebec, and it was there that she met her future husband, Lee Howard, Jr. On that fateful day, Christine was working in the barn picking up tobacco leaves with her sister Frances. It was then she and Lee became forever sweethearts and would be married on October 22, 1977 to begin 45 years of married life together.

Some of Christine's fondest memories were being a part of military Army life. In the early 1980's, her husband Lee was stationed in Germany, and she with their first-born daughter Alishia Maraine moved to Germany to be together as family. After those years, they settled back in NC closer to home, she gave birth to their second daughter, Stephanie Renee. Around 1990, their family moved onto the Howard family land in Angier with Lee's father, mother and Lee's brothers where they helped work and establish the Howard family 'homestead'. Christine had a connection with the land and nature there. She was part of the family garden plantings and would shuck peas and can veggies from the garden with her mother- n-law and family. The family had horses on the farm and enjoyed trail rides together. Christine rode for a brief time, riding their horse Sugar until Sugar wasn't so sweet to her, and Christine decided horse riding wasn't her thing. Christine enjoyed memories with her husband and daughters on the land, cook-outs, pig pickin's and stick biscuits around the campfire at the bunkhouse. She had several pets, dogs and cats, one she named Stewart Little.

Christine's greatest inspiration in her life was her husband Lee and their two daughters, whom she dearly and deeply loved. As their daughters were growing, they moved to Garner where Christine found her dream home that she always envisioned. A lover of water, she enjoyed their backyard pool many years, both in the quiet of nature and hosting family pool parties. During these years, Lee and Christine welcomed their son-in-law Josh, as he and Alishia married. As their grandchildren Logan Lee and Brayleigh Raine were born, she loved sharing her creativity and teaching them. Christine was excited to know Stephanie would be welcoming her first child, another granddaughter. As Life's journey would unfold, Christine would not know her newest granddaughter in person, although we imagine she is being introduced to her right now in the World-Beyond. Christine colorfully expressed her creativity, writing poetry, painting outdoor art sculptures, and designing fairy and gnome habitats. She loved trees, plants and flowers, lovingly tended her roses, and felt fortunate to have an old-growth Sycamore tree with intriguing, spiraling roots in her front yard.

Always giving to others, she helped her family and anyone in need, taking care of her siblings as they aged. She loved the mountains, beach, and her home. She wanted to fly, often talking about jumping out of an airplane. In her many journals, she wrote: if she could live her life over again, she would "get a better education and enjoy life more - Live your Dreams". She writes she was always searching for the Truth, she just knew there was always more to know.

Christine's daughters and husband honor her as being sassy, brutally honest and telling it like it was. Family and friends remember her as authentic, real, and unique. She had a spiritual connection with her mother and others who had passed. She would find a like-minded kinship with her sister-in-law, Maria, talking on the phone for hours, about the big questions in Life, the cosmos, mystery, Truth, what's beyond what we know, or what we think we know - What our true nature and essence is as humans, how we, humanity, got to this point in history, and what is beyond us in space and time. Her deep curiosity and questioning were her hallmarks, and she encouraged all of us to question, wonder and be curious beyond. She is truly loved and will be deeply missed.

Christine often spoke and wrote in her journey of this life on through to the afterlife, and leaves us with her journal message, "See ya, when you get here I'll be waiting."