Marty Brown Howarth, 61, died Dec. 21 after a vigorous fight with breast cancer and its complications. A former resident of Ocracoke, Marty had recently returned to her birthplace in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for medical care and to be with her family.
Born Aug. 7, 1958, Marty and her husband Hank owned and operated the former Creekside Café from 2008 through 2013 after taking over from Chris Styron.
She was a graduate of Point Park College and West Virginia University School of Law. After graduating from law school, Marty practiced law in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Colorado as a civil litigator, trying cases in state and federal courts for more than 25 years.
After building a home on Ocracoke in 2002, she and Hank planned a working retirement with the purchase of Creekside in 2008. As she later recalled, “The plan was right; the timing not so much!” After six seasons and a few storms, she and Hank sold the property back to Styron at the end of 2013 and returned to the practice of law in Virginia and Washington, D.C. (The Creekside then became the Ocracoke Bar & Grille, and in the spring will become the new location for the Ocracoke Oyster Company.)
She is survived by her husband Hank, her mother Sandra Young, daughter Emily Brooks Brown, son Benjamin Aiken Brown, sister Elizabeth McCormick, brother John A. Young, aunt Linda Whitmyre; three grandchildren, Levi, Rosalie and Connell Brown; nephew Justin McCormick; nieces Erin Fenley and Brynn Steele; and her rescue pups, Judge and Tucker. She was preceded in death by her father, John A. Young Jr.
Private arrangements are by Simons Funeral Home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The family suggests contributions in Marty’s memory to Animal Friends.
