Elizabeth Annette Howard Warner was born on September 25, 1912, in Minneapolis, MN, to Charles W. and Ann B. Howard. Dr. Howard was a professor in the geology department at the University of Minnesota. After hearing of a teaching position at Canton Christian College and desiring a place for Christian service, the Howard family moved to Canton, China when Elizabeth was five years old. The Howard family lived in China for ten years, so most of her childhood memories are centered in and around the College.

The children attended a school in a home near the College. Two teachers were provided by the College and were assisted by mothers of the students. Mrs. Howard taught the science classes, while others taught art and music. Upon their return to Wheaton in 1928, the children first attended public school and then went to the private Wheaton Academy.

After her father's death, her mother became a house mother in one of the Wheaton College dorms. The then Miss Howard attended Wheaton College, and graduated in June 1933 with an A.B. in history. She worked one year in the Wheaton Public Library before she continued her studies at Gordon College Divinity School in Boston, MA.

Mrs. Warner met Florence Meeker Raetz after returning to Wheaton from Boston and learned of the need at the Door of Hope Mission in Canton, China. She returned to that country in 1936 with the Raetz family to work in the mission. Since no mission board sent Mrs. Warner to China, she had to find her own means of support. College Church in Wheaton provided part of the necessary means.

While working in China, she helped with the handcrafts at the mission and assisted with care and supervision of the girls. She moved with the mission when it went from Canton to Hong Kong. In 1941 she returned to the United States on furlough but never went back to China due to World War II. She later married and in the late 1970's lived in Chicago area. She died in August 2000.