Hall of Honor

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Charles R. Thompson (19101996) dedicated his life to the Howe Public School System He served as teacher, principal, and superintendent He graduated from Howe High School in 1928 and Baylor University, Waco, in 1933 He returned to Howe as a coach and teacher in 1933 and served s Superintendent of Howe Independent School District from 1948-1972 In 1978, the Howe School System named the New High School Gymnasium (now middle school gymnasium) for him and he was honored with Charles Thompson Day on April 21, 1996. He was a member of First Baptist Church in Howe and taught boys' and men's SundaySchool Classes for 55 years; he served as a deacon from 1936-1988 Charles was a member of Howe Masonic Lodge and was awarded the Lamar Medal on September 24, 2003. He was a member of Howe Lions Club and was active in all civic organizations in Howe

Arthur Boyle (1924-2014) came to Howe in 1958 and During his long career as an educator, he served twice as principal of Howe High School, coached the 1958 and 1959

Howe Bulldogs in football, was the girls varisty basketball coach and was superintendent of Howe Independent School District His leadership in Howe and his ability to relate with people, faculty members and students made Boyle the obvious choice to return to Howe as the superintendent in 1977

Tony Brinkley (1926-1944) was Howe's first World War II casualty After the United States was attacked at Pearl Harbor, Brinkley left school early and joined the Navy at the age of 16 and was an aviation machinist's mate, third class. Brinkley helped repair the fuselages of fighter and bomber planes when they returned from battling the Japanese. He worked 12 to 14 hours a day which was enough without the air-strikes by the Japanese on the the island which finally took his life after two weeks of bombings But his death did not go unavenged The same planes that Brinkley had helped put back in the air helped take down the Japanese fighters Tony was just a boy, but he was doing a man's job

Brinkley was also the quarterback and captain of the Howe Bulldogs that found themselves without a coach in 1942 Brinkley organized practices and called the plays for the Bulldogs who miraculously won the district under those strange circumstances

L.B. Kirby (1924- ) is the most decorated living veteran in the state of Texas, with seven Bronze Stars, two Bronze Arrowheads and a Purple Heart, awarded for his service in the army during World War II Perhaps the most surprising thing about Kirby's heroic achievements is that for decades, he never told anyone about his awards, including his family.

A 1943 graduate of Howe High School, Kirby entered the military just 15 days after finishing high school Kirby trained as a fire operator and served as a machine gunner under General Douglas MacArthur in the First Cavalry Division of the United States Army and was hit in the back by shrapnel from a Japanese rocket He spent three months in a field hospital recovering He rejoined his unit preparing for an invasion of Japan by the Japanese who surrendered on Aug 15, 1945 Kirby was one of only 25 men left out of his unit of 250

Norma Wallace (1929-1996) was actively involved in the creation of the marching band which later became know as The Pride of Howe With her tremendous ability to gather people together for a willing and worthy cause, she impacted Howe in a way that forever changed the way people look at Howe. Wallace was also instrumental in the formation of the Howe Public Library, the Howe Historical Society and the placement of a Texas Historical Marker at Hall Cemetery and also was successful in petitioning for an outside mail drop box at the US Post office in Howe

Wallace quietly started a petition by local citizens advocating the movement of an on-ramp to US 75 located in Howe. Several accidents and some fatalities had occurred because of the location on the on-ramp Thanks to her diligence, the on-ramp was moved and lives suredly were saved

Ray Bledsoe (1932 - ) was a mover and shaker from the time he moved to Howe in 1964 He was voted commissioner of the Howe Youth Baseball League and immediately went to work to build a youth ballfield for the kids. He was successful in constructing A M Ferguson Park without using any city funds.

After serving on the Howe ISD Board of Trustees and any other committee to the betterment of the school or city, Bledsoe, in 1986 became mayor of Howe He received 80% of the vote even though he was not on the ballot

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