Beloved member of the Woodrow Wilson High School community, Richard Howell died yesterday. The Howell family took part in a story we ran last November, "Generation Next (Door)" about extended families taking root in our close-knit neighborhood.
Before suffering a stroke last summer, Mr. Howell had been a longtime volunteer at Woodrow. He worked as music minister at a neighborhood church, but volunteered an enormous amount of time playing with the Woodrow show choir, says retired choir director Marca Lee Bircher, who worked closely with Howell for many years.
“He would come to the school and go to all the performances. He played for kids when they went to contests. He just loved the school and he loved the kids. I almost didn’t believe how generous he was — that generous spirit is unusual," she says. "It is hard to accept that he’s gone.”
Howell’s wife Bradley Sue recently retired from Woodrow after working as librarian for many years, and the couple’s three children attended Woodrow through the 1980s. Both Richard and Bradley Sue were very active in the PTA and the music program long after their children graduated. Everyone in the school community knows and loves them, says Bircher.
The most recent info we’ve received concerning a memorial: Family visitation is this Friday at Ed C. Smith (across the street from Grove Hill Cemetery) from 6-8 p.m. There will be a family only service and burial this Saturday in Allen with a memorial service Feb. 6 at 3 p.m. at First Methodist Church, followed by a reception.
