The Rev. Elaine Marie Hower, who was a pastor at Lutheran churches in Spring Church, Natrona Heights and Lower Burrell for more than 20 years, grew up in the church, had a passion for her faith and a compassion for helping others in need, said one of her three sons.

“She loved helping people with their real problems. She would visit the sick. She was very dedicated,” said her oldest son, Dr. Robert D. Hower of Erie.

Hower, 76, of Oakmont died Monday.

Hower was born Aug. 4, 1948, in Ellwood City, the daughter of the late Howard and Dorothy (Nye) Rader.

She grew up in Zelienople, where she graduated as valedictorian from Seneca Valley High School in 1966. Her passion for learning led her to Allegheny College in Meadville, where she majored in English and history.

While in college, she met her future husband, Robert D. Hower Sr. After their marriage, they moved to Philadelphia, where her husband went to Temple University’s medical school, while she worked as a librarian. That allowed her to nurture her lifelong love for books and knowledge.

The couple moved to Pittsburgh, where their three sons were born: Robert, Michael and John. They moved to Natrona Heights, Harrison, in 1976 and to Oakmont in 2019.

Hower decided to go into the ministry when she was 46 and her sons were teenagers.

She had done volunteer work and enjoyed being a lay associate at Faith Lutheran Church in Natrona Heights, she told the Valley News Dispatch in 2005. The idea of becoming a minister was not something she initially embraced. She said there was a lot of nudging, struggling and even resistance involved — mainly from within herself, she said.

“It seemed very scary because my whole life, and my life with my husband, would have to change,” she told the Valley News Dispatch. Armed with a bachelor’s degree in teaching from Chatham University, she went to seminary at Gettysburg College.

She was ordained in 1998 and served as pastor of the Spring Church Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kiski Township and Faith Lutheran Church in Natrona Heights.

But she spent most of her ministry at Bethesda Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lower Burrell, where she was pastor for 16 years, before retiring in June 2020, according to Rita Seben, church council president.

“She touched many, many lives when she was here. She was a wonderful pastor and will be greatly missed by everyone,” Seben said.

Hower was the Bethesda Evangelical Lutheran Church’s first female pastor, Seben said.

Another son, Dr. John T. Hower of Oakmont, describes his mother devoted a lot of effort to writing her sermons.

“She would spend a good part of the week preparing her sermon and writing it,” not relying on a prepared text, John Hower said. “That was a huge thing for her.”

Robert Hower said he has part of his mother’s childhood — her mother’s family pew from the small Lutheran church in Zelienople. It was where she was baptized, had her First Communion and where she was married.

Rev. Hower was a lifelong learner, loved to read and “was one of the brightest people I’ve every known,” Robert Hower said.

“My mother was very well-read and was fairly intellectual,” said John Hower.

John Hower recalled they would go to Bethany Beach, Del., for vacations. She also was adventurous enough to go on vacation with her husband and three boys to a wilderness cabin in Canada, where they had to transport their belongings by boat and stay without indoor plumbing, he said.

One of her joys was being able to baptize most of her nine grandchildren, John Hower said. He recalled how she loved the large family gatherings with her children and grandchildren for the Christmas holiday.

“She was sort of an amazing mother,” he said.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her daughter-in-law, Erica Hower.

Surviving are her husband of 55 years, Dr. Robert D. Hower; three sons, Dr. Robert D. (Rebecca) Hower, Michael H. (Melissa) Hower of Freeport and Dr. John T. (Tara Croker) Hower; nine grandchildren and three nieces and a nephew.

Friends will be received from 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday in Giunta-Bertucci Funeral Home Inc., 1509 Fifth Ave., Arnold. A funeral service will be at 11 a.m. Monday in the Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1500 Broadview Blvd., Natrona Heights. Those attending are asked to go directly to the church.

Burial will be private. To leave an online condolence, please visit www.giunta- bertucci.com.

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