Sidebar to Jed Howard feature: Some Carlsbad memories of Mr. Howard: John McClure: I had Mr. Howard for PAD (Problems in American Democracy) in my senior year (1965.) He was such a great teacher, easy going, but no push-over either. He encouraged discussion but didn’t demand it. Because he was so easy to talk with, he got a lot of feedback from his students. He was one of my favorite teachers in high school. Craig Purcell: One of the best teachers I ever had. Had a very unique style that was his only. I was a teacher and principal and only worked with a few that were as good as Jed Howard. Kent Thomas: His curiosity and intellect were stellar. Caron Olson Powers :Mr. Howard’s class was the best college prep class that I had. He treated us as young adults and made us realize our education was our responsibility. He was there as our mentor and he did an excellent job. Lynn Nymeyer: He came into the Studio and asked if we would let him go through our negatives. He wanted to get prints made for Carlsbad history. Of course I let him. He came in regularly, twice a week. I made him a sort of office area in the back and he would go through them and set aside negatives he wanted me to print for him. let him go through Dad’s and my personal negatives as well. We had some really interesting chats while I was waiting for prints to wash in the darkroom. He was indeed a great, very intelligent, pro-Carlsbad man, and I grew extremely fond of him. Larry Hedge:I had Jed starting in 8thgrade at Mid High through the 11thgrade on the Hill. While being a poor student likely troublesome at Mid High I spent a lot of time at the Library doing book reports on different subjects selected by Jed. Another way to give a poor student a rounded education after all. I still retain a reverence and curiosity about History and Political Science. Before he died I was able to email him for a while and apologize for being such a poor student and let him know all his efforts were not wasted as I did attain some success as a Mississippi River Pilot. I also got him to add some more content to local Hero Dickie Harrell’s drag racing and supercar building career. Jed was the best teacher I ever had and gave us a website that tells the story of Eddy County and Carlsbad for all future residents and their families. Between all those students he influenced and the website he left a lasting legacy. Bob Belden:I had him my senior year, ’65. One day I walked into class and he sternly looked at me and told me to come with him. Off we went to the office, all the while I’m wondering what I did. Mind you getting reprimanded was not foreign to me. We arrive at the office and went to Mr. Stuart’s office (that’s where you went when you were in trouble). Mr. Stuart looked at me while asking Jed what was I there for. Jed looked at me and smiled and told Mr. Stuart I was there to help him carry some books back to class. The two finished discussing something else and on the way back to class he smiled at me and said “got ‘cha”. He was my favorite teacher in HS, he treated his students like adults. Great guy. Sally Liddel lMiller:J ed was a serious note taker and absolutely loved the history of Carlsbad. A wonderful man and friend. Jerry Hammon: I taught with Jed for one year. Jed bought a little house in West Carlsbad and renovated it himself. He invited me over tosee it and he had done some nice things with it and had lots of built-in shelves and books there. Steve Collier: The most challenging and influential educator I have ever had! I credit him with planting seeds that ultimately helped me escape the extreme religious and political fundamentalism that I grew up in. I’ll never forget learning about Kwakiutl and Dionysian view of society. And organizing Walapurgolopus. Donna Birchell
:Jed was a humanitarian; he loved to do for others. He also loved to speak and could make anything he talked about sound fascinating. He was passionate about preserving the history of Carlsbad. He spent days at the Family History Center combing the old newspapers for tidbits of history, and sometimes just gossip. Then he wrote all of these findings in ledgers and yellow legal pads with the finest point felt tip pen possible. His writing was difficult to read because it was so tiny and always printed. He should have been an engineer. After his death, the Historical Society was tasked to dismantle his home. It was tiny, possibly 400 sq.ft.,and he had utilized every inch of this space for storage .He loved Christmas and collected blown glass ornaments which he would use to decorate the tree at the Carlsbad Foundation each year. These ornaments were recently sold to benefit the Historical Society. He also collected cigarette packs and matchbox cars. He was extremely generous to the Historical Society by giving them his home and savings for the preservation of the photos and negatives he painstakingly curated. (Unfortunately, these are now in storage since the Historical Society is without a home as of yet).He is sorely missed. The Historical Society is lost without him. We lost so much when he passed away. He knew more about the history of Carlsbad than everyone and was our “go to” for questions. Carolyn Olson: After Jed’s death, the Historical Society sold his house, rented 3 storage units for his “stuff” and contracted with Iron Mountain to properly store all the photos and negatives. Then we had an estate sale. People who remembered Jed came to buy just a piece to remember him. We heard wonderful stories of “Mr. Howard”. Students either loved him or disliked him, but they all learned! We can’t leave his valuable collections in storage forever: –it’s too important to the history of this city to just pack it away, never to be seen again. So we’re looking for a building! The museum hasn’t room, the library hasn’t room, it’s important to us, and we owe it to him. Someone recently asked me if I knew who could tell them about Bruce Cabot. My answer: where is Jed when we need him?
John (Jack) Michel Class of 1966:I had Jed Howard 2 years in a row for American History and PAD. I also knew him because I was in Demolay at the time (1964-1966). I was an ordinary kid and I guess I wanted to stand out from the crowd, so I started to wear a tie every day to class, not just any tie but a wide 1940's silk tie. This particular tie was the only one I had at the time and had been the tie my Dad wore when he married my Mom. Of course Mr. Howard didn't know the history of the tie and one morning when I came into his classroom he stepped up to me and suddenly cut my tie off with a pair of scissors. I was furious that he had done this. However, the next day he let me cut his tie in half so I guess we were even. I also remember going to Roswell for a Demolay function with a dance afterwards. I asked a girl I met there if she would go to the dance with me having no clue how I was going to pick her up if she said yes. Well she did say yes and Jed Howard let me borrow his car for the night. Unheard of in today's world. Although I was not in any of Jed Howard's special student groups he was my confidant and counselor for a number of years.