Bob Howard, the Nicest Guy I Never Met

 

Bob Howard, the Nicest Guy I Never Met

The mystery of life is never knowing what will happen next. Sometimes it's a celebration of friendship and sometimes a sudden and unexpected loss. To me Bob Howard was both. I came to know him through our common love of Northport and we communicated for hours both online and in the mail. We never met personally, but I knew him better than many folks whom I've met face-to-face. I learned of his wife Maureen, his children, his grandchildren and his career with the Northport Police Department... And...of his mini-van with the five child-restraint seats to accommodate those mini grands he was so proud of.

We joked about the many times we likely crossed paths “back in the day” and he never had a chance to arrest me. If he had, I know I would have deserved it. We became very close, exchanging Christmas cards, letters and “trinkets”. I sent him a CD of our “Antique Roadshow Band” and he sent me his CD of his Emerald Society Pipe Band where he played bagpipes. He and Maureen planned to swing by St. Augustine in just two months so we could meet for dinner. My wife Jessie and I were very much anticipating that.

During our email exchange of late December that year, Bob told me that an old familiar Northport alumnus, Freddy Piercey had gone missing and his body was discovered floating in Northport Harbor just off Seymour’s Boatyard. Within two weeks, Bob himself had a fatal heart attack while loading luggage into a car trunk in East Northport. It was a somber period for our hometown. We were going to collaborate on the song “Amazing Grace” by incorporating his bagpipes into our existing “Antique Roadshow Band” recording but, unfortunately, time was not on our side.

In brief...... Big Bob......thanks for touching the lives of so many and for touching mine. I hope someday, I'll get to jam-out with you and complete that recording with a special arrangement for the man in charge. So for now, I'm just going to say “til then”.