Matthew Howell

Matt Howell (known with affection as "Pops") was a loving, caring man. He nursed both his mother and brother at home through difficult illnesses up until their deaths; he always spoke about his friends with generosity and, when necessary, forgiveness; and while he still possessed it, he devoted a great deal of energy to support change in his community through organizations like Waltham Community Group (WCLG). He knew what it was like to be homeless, and he did his best to help build a community where everyone could thrive, if only through more accessible bus routes or better conditions in the homeless shelter.

Matt is no longer here to say it, but it's clear that if he could, he would want to say "thank you," on many grounds, to his beloved friends, to the person he considered his life partner, to WCLG members and to the other folks he met through Chaplains on the Way programs in Waltham, to folks at the Community Day Center of Waltham, and to the staff of Watertown Rehabilitation and Nursing Center and First Choice Hospice.

Listening to Matt during WCLG meetings, or just in casual conversation, you quickly realized what a smart, creative, and passionate thinker he was. He could be impatient, when he thought change was coming too slowly, and he didn't hesitate to use blunt words to state hard truths, but he was also, always, funny and kind. Grumpiness came easily to him, but so did laughter. 

Some people didn't know that Matt was a talented artist. In his younger years, he created a gallery's worth of original artworks (mostly paintings and sculpture). Due to hard luck, he lost them all, but he never lost his interest in art as an expression of the human spirit. Jean-Michel Basquiat was one of his favorite inspirations. Even in Matt's last months, while in hospice, he arranged to check out library books on Basquiat and other visual artists. He made use of inexpensive materials (including crayons and brown paper) to try to create new art. (The images above come from a set of Basquiat's artworks that Matt intended to use both to decorate around his hospice bed and to inspire him to create his own new artworks.)

To support his deeply-felt spiritual life, Matt drew on diverse sources. He considered himself a Buddhist and liked to mark his Buddhist commitments by wearing mala beads and reading Tricycle or Lion's Roar articles, but he also liked to speculate about the spiritual relevance of life elsewhere in the universe. Maybe, just maybe, there are aliens seeking contact with us? If so, Matt knew that it matters, somehow, to the lives all of us are leading.

Despite the many obstacles Matt faced, there is much to celebrate in his life. He will be remembered, and missed, for a long time. Bon voyage, Matt! If you can, please reach back to those of us who love you, to let us know what you've managed to learn, at long last, about the true nature of the universe and what those aliens are really up to.