John G. Howard Jr., 84, owned Barnstable boatyard, known for his carved half-models of boats for plaques awarded to winners of sailing races
Hoodoo
December 18, 2004
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/obituaries/articles/2004/12/18/john_g_howard_jr_at_84_owned_barnstable_boatyard/
John G. Howard Jr. loved all things nautical. When he wasn't
building and repairing boats in his Barnstable boatyard, he was
sailing and racing them, or teaching others how to. He was known
for his carved half-models of boats for plaques awarded to
winners of sailing races.
''Bunny Howard was an original New England personality," said a
longtime friend, Joanna Kennedy of Brookline, using Mr. Howard's
nickname.
''He preferred wooden boats to fiberglass ones, sailboats to
power, and lived his life according to the winds and the sea."
Mr. Howard, who started sailing as a boy and continued until a
year ago, died Dec. 11 at Cape Cod Hospital of pneumonia. He was
84 and lived in Barnstable. Friends said he had been recovering
from a broken hip.
Mr. Howard was born in Cambridge to John G. and Ruth Howard. He
got the nickname just after birth, when his mother thought he
twitched his nose like a bunny, according to friends. ''The
wonderful thing about Bunny was that little kids from the age of
3 and people his own age all still called him Bunny," said Sean
Cummings of Barnstable, who once worked for Mr. Howard.
Mr. Howard attended Brown & Nichols School and Phillips Academy
at Andover before joining the Navy during World War II, where he
attained the rank of boatswain first class.
Barnstable had always been Mr. Howard's second home while the
family lived in Cambridge. He moved there permanently in 1938 and
started his boatyard next to the Barnstable Yacht Club in the
carriage house of his family home. He owned John G. Howard Boats
for 51 years.
When they were both 22, Mr. Howard and Barbara Mitchell of
Connecticut, studying at a Barnstable teachers' college, were
married. Mrs. Howard, who died in 1998, was a valued crew member
on her husband's many sailing ventures.
''They were a very special couple," said Barbara Chalpara of
Centerville. ''When they were 75, they looked at each other as if
they were still 22."
Although the Howards had no children, they had many friends who
were young. A refrigerator in the boatyard office was always
fully stocked with popsicles. ''Kids seemed drawn to Bunny,"
Kennedy said. ''He was sort of no-nonsense, youthful, vigorous,
and fun to be with."
Chalpara described Mr. Howard as ''a dashingly handsome man, with
Paul Newman's blue eyes, all his hair, now silver, and all his
spirit."
Friends said he never seemed to age. He continued skiing and
racing sailboats into his 70s and was in the middle of carving
half-model ships when he had his fall.
''Many yacht clubs throughout the Cape and beyond have Howard
models as prizes, and many boat owners have dressed their dens
with a Howard half-model of their personal boats," said Daniel
Knott of Barnstable.
During and after he ran his boat business, Mr. Howard taught
generations of children how to sail.
His own favorite boat was the Beetle Cat. In 1937, he won the
inaugural Beetle Cat championship at the Barrington Yacht Club in
Rhode Island.
For a time, he was assistant harbormaster of Barnstable, saving
sailors from sinking or towing in others stranded on Sandy Neck,
an inlet in Barnstable Harbor.
Peter Eastman, who once worked for Mr. Howard and now owns the
firm Mr. Howard built, said that in the 1980s Mr. Howard
developed the Barnstable Cat Boat, a fiberglass version of the
classic wooden Beetle Cat.
In 1989, Mr. Howard sold his boatyard and retired. Eastman
purchased it from a second owner in 1998. Until his health
failed, Mr. Howard made daily visits to his old shop.
''This place has always been special to me," Eastman said. ''One
of the reasons is the legacy Bunny left here."
Mr. Howard left no immediate relatives.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. today at St. Mary's
Church in Barnstable. Burial will be private.
--
Oh, smell your harmonica. Go on, smell it son. - Johnny 'Guitar'
Watson