Richard C Howland Jr

Becky is Phi Beta Kappa, UMass, Masters University of Colorado working in graduate development at Berkley College of Music.

Alex is a musician currently touring as keyboard player, guitarist and backup vocalist for The Led Zeppelin Experience.

I have been widowed. Remarried. Survived brain tumor from a head injury and a new knee without pain killers.

We moved from a large restored farmhouse on 19 acres which I was taking care of myself, to a small one-floor ranch-style home 54 miles away on Dec 7. On Jan. 14, I got a new heart valve. Same procedure as Mick Jagger who was on the top of the charts the week we graduated with the anthem "Satisfaction."
Still rockin'.

Came to NHS in '63 my junior year as one of nearly three dozen "faculty brats."

Tough time fitting in but managed to make a handful of great friends, including Mike Gradone the younger, our late president Glenn Hart with whom I toured Newton the year we graduated in a red '59 T-bird convertible and Drew O'Malley for whom I continue to have growing admiration. He' class act and one of only two who stay in touch.

Dad (Mr. Howland) was assistant principal and, therefore, doled out discipline which did not help my personal integration.

A couple of backstories: After 70 years and no help from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, I managed to get Dad the Bronze Star for combat in Europe in WWII. Into the '60s he still was jumpy even in his sleep when heavy aircraft flew over.

It was probably his combat training and experience that saved him when a greaser from Newtonville pulled a switchblade on Dad in the lunchroom, and the kid wound up unconscious on the floor by the exit doors.

Then there was the time I got tossed out of chemistry for disrupting the class by wearing a black Beatle wig over my blond flat-top. None of the nearly 3,000 students nor faculty ever said a word.