WARREN, Ohio (MyValleyTributes) – Valerie Marie Lee Mountfort, 46 of Warren, Ohio, died Monday, April 17, 2023, at home after a lengthy battle with kidney disease and diabetes.

Our luck child, born March 17, 1977, St. Patrick’s Day, in Warren, Ohio, was the daughter of the late Brian Lee and Penny Holbrook.

She grew up in Warren, alongside her sister, Jennifer and was a graduate of Howland High School class of 1995.

Val had a passion for anything artsy: music, writing, painting and photography, a love of all those coming from a family who were also artistic. She had a great love of food, going out to eat, cooking at home, cheeseburgers and diet coke, seafood and sushi.

Being an adventurer, she took many trips on her own or with family and friends. On one venture she packed up her belongings in her car, along with her two kitties and made her way to Jacksonville, Florida, where she flourished for 14 years.

She loved people, never to have met a stranger, talking with people in the cash out line, on the phone with her patients at home care or with meeting someone for the first time and becoming a life friend for sure. Her family, large in number, was her life line. Through laughter and tears, joy and pain, many stories that will last a lifetime in our hearts will be because of Valerie.

With all those things to fill her, one thing was missing, her person. She finally met Kenneth in June 2016 at a music concert and have been together since. They married September 28, 2019 and moved back to Ohio in 2021 due to her illness.

Throughout her life, she was a bright light, not much kept her down. Being diagnosed with diabetes, she did not let it control her life. Her battle with this disease took its toll on her body but not her spirit. She took it in stride to help show herself and others that life’s choices or circumstances do not define you.

She leaves behind her husband, Kenneth Mountfort; mom, Penny Holbrook; sister and brother-in-law, Jennifer (James) Ruckman; nieces, Madison (Adam) Bates, Mikhayla Ruckman, Jade (Austin) Potase and Jenna Ruckman; great-nephew, Renly Bates; great-niece, Nora Ruckman; mother-in-law, Julie Furry; father-in-law, Michael Furry; sister-in-law, Nicole Schneider and a multitude of aunts, uncles, cousins and friends who are all family. Her cat dog, Phoenix and best friends ever, Jerr Fawbush and Ryan Sok.  

In addition to her father, she was preceded in death by her father-in-law, Gary Mountfort; stepfather, Sherman Holbrook; grandparents, Richard Ginkinger, Coralie Ginkinger and Theda Lee and great-aunt, Helen Cupples.

Thank you all for prayers and support over all her life… Isaiah 53:5.. “And By His Stripes We Are Healed.”

Services will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 22, 2023, at the Praise Cathedral Church of God, where Pastor Jim Salyers will officiate. Friends may call from 12:00 – 2:00 p.m., at the church prior to services.

Arrangements have been entrusted to the Carl W. Hall Funeral Home.

A television tribute will air Wednesday, April 19 at the following approximate times: 5:17 a.m. on WKBN, 8:39 a.m. on FOX, 5:21 p.m. on WYTV and 6:35 p.m. on MyYTV. Video will be posted here the day of airing.