Mrs. Virginia Dare Houck Howell, age 96, of West Jefferson, passed away Wednesday night, February 27, 2008 at Segraves Nursing Care Center. Funeral services will be held Saturday, March 1, 2008 at 2pm at Bethany United Methodist Church with Rev. Lewis Poag officiating. Burial will follow in the church cemetery. The family will receive friends from 1-2pm on Saturday, one hour prior to the funeral service. Mrs. Howell was born in Ashe County on December 20, 1911 to the late James Coy Houck and Annie Lee Goodman Houck. She was a homemaker. She was preceded in death by her husband, Fred N. Howell and a grandson, Gale Dean (Trey) Howell, III. Mrs. Howell is survived by, a son, Gale Dean Howell of West Jefferson; two sisters, Agnes Baldwin of West Jefferson and Jessie Jonas of Winston-Salem; two grandchildren, Butch Howell and Mark Howell; three great-grandchildren, Candy Howell, Dustin Howell and Michael Howell; two great, great-grandchildren, William Anthony Howell and Nicholas Clay Lyons; several nieces and nephews also survive. In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to: Segraves Nursing Care Center, 200 Hospital Avenue, Jefferson, NC 28640.