Ann Howard Moretz CORNELIUS -

Ann Howard Moretz, 75, of Cornelius, NC, died on Thursday, October 17, 2013, after bravely fighting multiple myeloma, amyloidosis and congestive heart failure for 10 months. A service of celebration of Ann's life will be held at Bethel Presbyterian Church, 19920 Bethel Church Road, Cornelius, NC 28031 on Sunday, October 20, 2013 at 2:00pm. Prior to the service, the family will receive friends from 1:00 to 2:00pm in the church fellowship hall. Interment will be in the Bethel Cemetery following the service. The daughter of Edward S. and Betty Reynolds Howard, Ann was born in Charleston, SC, on October 11, 1938. She graduated from North Charleston High School, and received her BA from Furman University in 1960. While in college, Ann worked in inner-city Atlanta in a child-care mission, and as a camp counselor at Burgess Glenn at Cedar Mountain, NC. An outstanding teacher, Ann taught advanced placement history at Andover High School in Linthicum, Maryland, and at North Mecklenburg High School in Huntersville, NC, before becoming a full-time mother in 1971. A wonderfully loving, creative mother and wife, Ann also enjoyed travel with Lynn and the family, visiting all 50 states and over 30 different countries. Ann is survived by her husband of 51 years, H. Lynn Moretz, their two children: daughter Joy M. Levering and husband Matthew of Libertyville, IL; their children, David, Andrew, Irene, John, Daniel and Lucy Levering; daughter Jan M. Lowry, and her husband Cameron of North Charleston, SC, and their son, Brandon Lowry; brother Charles Howard (Eileen) of Oklahoma City, OK; sister Marion Brown (Ralph) of Canyon Lakes, TX; sister Dorothy Nearing, of Cary, NC, and many nieces, nephews and cousins. A devoted, gentle Christian, Ann served Bethel Presbyterian Church for 46 years as Deacon and Elder, Sunday School Teacher of every level, founding chair of the Bethel Christian Education Committee, and moderator of the Bethel Presbyterian Women, in which she was honored with Life Membership. Ann worked to establish the Bethel Share Home, which for many years provided a safe, caring home for elderly people. Later she worked with Bethel's Room in the Inn program in the same house. More recently, she initiated the Bethel Card Ministry, which, with its devoted team of members makes and sends hundreds of cards to people in need of encouragement and support. She also initiated the Mothers' Morning Out program at Bethel, which grew into the present Bethel Weekday School. She served on and led committees of Charlotte Presbytery. Ann mentored Bethel confirmands and created bulletin boards for many years. Another legacy of love (characteristically, without her name on it) is the 40-page booklet she compiled of favorite scriptures, with her original drawings on each page, which she printed and shared with many hundreds of people over the years, including all the homeless guests of Bethel's Room in the Inn. In the community, Ann served on the board of the Davidson Day Care Center, and also the Bethel Weekday School. She was a long-time volunteer tutor at Cornelius Elementary School. For more than 10 years, until it closed, she volunteered weekly at the prison in Huntersville, sharing the love of Christ with the prisoners by listening, helping them write letters and cards to loved ones, and obtaining clothing, shoes and other supplies to help those who were being released return to productive life. She worked also for several years as a counselor at the then-new North Campus of Central Piedmont Community College. In addition, she started and ran for seven years Jelly Jar Cross Stitch, a needlework design business that marketed her original designs nationwide.