Woman's brother tells of vagabond life

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Reuben Howard of Burlington, N.C., hadn't heard from his sister in four or five years. He wondered what became of her although it wasn't unusual for her to be gone for that

Thursday, January 20th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Reuben Howard of Burlington, N.C., hadn't heard from his sister in four or five years. He wondered what became of her although it wasn't unusual for her to be gone for that length of time. He was stunned to learn this week that she had been in a vegetative state in an Oklahoma City nursing home for almost two years, known most of the time as simply Jane Doe.

Mary Joyce Howard had no personal identification on her when she was run over and left for dead as she walked along Interstate 40 near the Texas border on Feb. 13, 1998. "I would have liked to have known what was going on," her brother said Thursday. "It's kinda put me in shock. She's family. How are you supposed to feel?"

Howard said his sister had a habit of dropping in and out of the lives of her rural North Carolina working class family every four or five years. "What she's doing in Oklahoma, I have no idea," he said. "I might think her to go up to Philadelphia or somewhere like that, but not out west."

She began talking in July and objected to nurses calling her Jane. Her name was Joyce, she said, but authorities knew nothing else about her. She talked little and is difficult to understand. Earlier attempts to match her fingerprints were unsuccessful. Authorities discovered her identity last week after Ms. Howard recited her Social Security number to a nurse technician who prodded her for the information. Authorities tracked down fingerprints from a 1980 criminal charge involving Ms. Howard in Pennsylvania.

The Social Security number unlocked a name that led to a fingerprint file, the trace of an erratic life on the move for a woman her brother said had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Ms. Howard had been in and out of treatment programs and hospitals. She's been married four or five times, Howard said, once to a man in Philadelphia, another time to a man from India with whom she had a daughter who he said may live in New York or India.

Ms. Howard returned home four or five years ago and called from Alamance Regional Hospital. Howard and his wife helped her get an apartment. "She got an apartment near here and stayed a while, just down the street," Howard said. "Then she disappeared." She left everything behind. "I've never been able to understand her," Howard said. "I've tried to be there for her, but it's hard to be there for her when you're one place and she's at others."

She may soon be close to home. Presbyterian Hospital and Skyview Nursing Center are helping raise funds to have Ms. Howard transferred to a North Carolina nursing home. Her father, who didn't want his name given out, said he had no money to help, said hospital spokesman Dennis Gimmel.

Howard said his mother, Naomi, and brother Dennis, who lives in a small house behind his parents, work in a hosiery mill. His father has worked in custodial jobs and done other things but has medical problems, Howard said. "We're poor folks," he said. "It's not because we don't work. Mill jobs are just limited income."