{"id":445379,"date":"2026-02-04T16:38:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T16:38:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/445379\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T16:38:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T16:38:23","slug":"meet-nhl-legend-gordie-howes-late-wife-colleen-and-their-four-children-including-his-two-sons-who-followed-in-his-footsteps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/445379\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet NHL legend Gordie Howe’s late wife Colleen and their four children \u2013 including his two sons who followed in his footsteps"},"content":{"rendered":"

Widely regarded to most fans as \u201cMr Hockey\u201d, NHL icon Gordie Howe left behind an incomparable legacy on the rink. During his 34-year career, the winger scored a once-record 801 career goals \u2013 only broken by Wayne Gretzky<\/a> over 30 years later.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As well as a number of records, Howe also won the Hart Trophy as the League\u2019s MVP a staggering six times. But the 23 time all-star player was just as successful in his personal life, finding his \u201cMrs Hockey\u201d at only 17, with whom he went on to have four children.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Regarded by some as one of the most complete players to ever play the sport, Hello! takes a look back at his remarkable marriage<\/a> and the children<\/a> who chose to follow in his footsteps.<\/p>\n

\"(Original\u00a9 Bettmann Archive<\/p>\n

Colleen and Gordie at their wedding in 1953<\/p>\n

Colleen Joffa, 76 (1933-2009)<\/p>\n

Gordie met Colleen at a bowling alley in Detroit in 1950 and they married just a few years later on 15 April 1953. The pair spent 56 years together, during which Colleen became the first female sports agent while managing her husband\u2019s business affairs. Collen died aged 76 in 2009 after a year-long battle with Pick\u2019s Disease, a neurological disorder that causes severe dementia.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In an interview the same year as her passing, Howe recalled to the Vancouver Sun meeting Colleen for the first time. \u201cShe was one of the prettiest things I\u2019d ever seen,\u201d he reminisced. \u201cEveryone kept telling me that when the right one came along it would hit you right between the eyes. Well, I got hit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LAS\u00a9 Getty Images<\/p>\n

Marty (left) and his brother Mark in 2016<\/p>\n

Marty Howe, 71 (1954)<\/p>\n

Gordie\u2019s eldest son Marty followed his father\u2019s footsteps into professional hockey, with the pair becoming the only father-son duo to ever play in the NHL during the 1979-1980 season with the Hartford Whalers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gordie wasn\u2019t the only family member he played alongside. Marty, and his younger brother Mark were famously teammates for seven seasons across both the WHA and the NHL. Across a career that lasted for 12 seasons, Marty racked up a combined 646 appearances across the WHA and the NHL.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Marty lives in Glastonbury, Connecticut with his wife Mary. They pay tribute to Gordie with an eight-foot-tall number 9 attached year-round to their home of over forty years. His father\u2019s player number formed the centrepiece for an impressive Christmas display in 2020. \u201cI shine it through Christmas and on his birthday,\u201d Marty explained. \u201cAny time I\u2019m thinking about him, I can plug it in. If I turned it on every time there was a milestone date for Gordie, I’d burn out the bulbs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"2004\u00a9 Getty Images<\/p>\n

Mark was also a professional hockey player<\/p>\n

Mark Howe, 70 (1955)<\/p>\n

Gordie\u2019s second son Mark also seemed destined for the rink. At just 16, Mark played at the 1972 Olympics in Japan where the US hockey team won silver. This was the start of an impressive legacy with the NHL, registering 197 goals and 545 assists across his career as well as being named an NHL All-Star four times. Mark retired in 1995 and worked as a scout for the Red Wings until 2021. He joined his father in the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011.<\/p>\n

Mark married his first wife Ginger in 1977, with whom he had three children. The couple divorced 28 years later, and Mark has since remarried his long-term partner, Sharon. The ex-Red Wings scout\u2019s son Travis Howe is continuing the family legacy in his work with NHL Breakaway as a highlight curator and NHL historian.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"DETROIT,\u00a9 NHLI via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Murray greeting a young hockey fan at his father’s visitation in 2016<\/p>\n

Murray Howe, 65 (1960)<\/p>\n

Unlike his two older brothers, Murray didn\u2019t end up on the rink. Instead, he\u2019s found success as the head of Sports Medicine Imaging for Toledo Radiological Associates and ProMedica Health System\u2019s Sports Care program. But he\u2019s not stepped entirely away from the Howe family legacy, building 40 years of experience as a keynote speaker on sports medicine and \u2013 of course \u2013 hockey.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Murray recounted the emotional journey following his father\u2019s passing in his 2017 memoir Nine Lessons I Learned From My Father, an intimate account of all that lies behind the legacy of his father, Gordie.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"DETROIT,\u00a9 Getty Images<\/p>\n

Cathy (third from right) cared for her father during his final years<\/p>\n

Cathy Purnell<\/p>\n

Gordie\u2019s only daughter provided care for the player during his final years at her home in Lubbock, Texas where she lives with her husband Bob. During this time, Cathy kept fans updated on his recovery as the player suffered multiple strokes. In 2014, she confirmed his condition to ESPN.com, saying \u201cHe\u2019s a tough old bird. His spirits are high. I watched him play hockey a lot of years and this is the biggest fight he\u2019s ever had. He\u2019s working hard to get through it and I\u2019m proud of him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Widely regarded to most fans as \u201cMr Hockey\u201d, NHL icon Gordie Howe left behind an incomparable legacy on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445380,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5101],"tags":[53159,53610,3063,23617,599,93,5137,5,4,3358,5138],"class_list":{"0":"post-445379","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-red-wings","8":"tag-celebrity-children","9":"tag-celebrity-families","10":"tag-celebrity-news","11":"tag-celebrity-weddings","12":"tag-detroit","13":"tag-detroit-red-wings","14":"tag-detroitredwings","15":"tag-hockey","16":"tag-nhl","17":"tag-red-wings","18":"tag-redwings"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116013348998789066","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}