The Best Neighbor Ever

My friend Howard Johnson passed away this week. We have been neighbors for close to 30 years. When we first met, I knew I would like him when his wife Jan called him “HoJo”.  Howard never took himself too seriously and he had a wonderful sense of humor.

What made him a great neighbor?:

• He was always positive and had a smile on his face.
• His grandkids worshipped him. My granddaughter Emma (5 years old) would run across the yard to say hello whenever she saw him.
• He had tools that I didn’t have and made sure I borrowed them.
• I have a power washer that he didn’t have. When Howard borrowed it, he would power-wash my driveway.
• When I couldn’t get a small engine to start, he would calm me down with a story that was just long enough to cure a flooded carburetor.
• My dogs loved him.
• He would ask about my golf game and listen.
• I could go on and on.

Howard and I hosted an annual neighborhood Oktoberfest. We were both veterans of the food industry. Howard worked for a sausage casing company. He would get his old customers to supply bratwursts. We would roll out our grills and have one street to bring side dishes and the other street to bring desserts. One year I had extra potatoes and made homemade French fries. The next year as we were setting up, Howard asked: No fries this year? Then followed up with: That’s all the neighborhood has talked about since last year. With a quick trip to the market that year, Howard’s fries were a hit, and have been a staple ever since.

Howard did volunteer work at the local hospital. For years he has been giving a morning blessing over the PA system. His goal was to deliver a spiritual blessing with a positive message. Howard’s boss at the hospital complained that his messages were too long. He worked hard on these messages and often struggled to keep them short. As a reader of this blog, Howard advised me to get your point and humor in up front, because you can’t rely on the attention span of your audience. Hence, the goal for all my blogs is to keep them short, to the point and try to include humor. As for Howard’s morning blessings, he has been fighting cancer for a while and the recordings of his messages are still being run. We have a friend who is a nurse at the hospital and she tells us that the staff still loves listening to Howard.

Howard was special to all his grandchildren. His one granddaughter made him promise years ago to live long enough to walk her down the aisle when she got married. He fought hard to live up to that promise. When that special day does occur, Howard will be there. His memory will live on with many of us. He was a great friend and the best neighbor ever.

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