U.S. Army
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Andrew F. Howlett U. S. Army
U.S. Army
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Nancy Murdock Below is a copy of an article I wrote for the SSA publication "In the SSA Family" for December 2005. For Veterans Day, we were invited to write articles honoring veterans. I decided to limit mine to the ones below. All the employees of the Social Security Administration have access to that newsletter. Some of the facts may not be totally accurate, but the deadline was short. I didn't have time to check dates with my brothers. Bob's picture was also in the article, one of seven responses to the request. I would have used more pictures if it hadn't been such a daunting job to search for them among the many boxes in the hall closet. Now Bob has found a nice batch among some family collages we did for gifts one year and fortunately didn't store in the photos closet. _________________________________________ We have a long, proud history of Veterans in my family. My father, Foster L. Howlett, took two tries to enlist at age 17 during World War I. He did not pass the weight requirements the first time, so he ate a lot of bananas for 2 weeks and passed on the second try. He became a Sergeant and was the company clerk for some time. His most famous battle was the Meuse-Argonne. I remember on April 12, 1945, hearing the church bells ringing and turning on the car radio to see if World War II had ended. Instead, we heard of President Roosevelt's death. As soon as they started playing "Taps" my father jumped out of the car, stood at attention, and held his salute until the song was finished. In 1950, Dad was the Marshall for the annual Memorial Day parade in Hubbardston, Massachusetts. My brother Thomas Howlett was in the Marines during the Korean War. Two of my brothers, Andrew and Stephen, enlisted in the late 1950s, along with some friends from our home town. They had agreed to go together. One of them was not going to make it, as he was a little slow. But my brothers said if Reggie wasn't accepted, they would not enlist; this was a package deal. Since Andy had received the highest score ever for that recruiting station, the Army agreed to take them all. Andy served in Germany and Steve on the border between North and South Korea. My youngest brother, John, did two tours of duty in Vietnam, where he was wounded twice. My husband, Robert D. Murdock, went into the Navy during World War II shortly after graduation from high school at age 17. He served on a flagship, the USS Panamint, in the Pacific. His job was in the radio room. He has many stories that our grandsons enjoy hearing. After he was discharged at the end of the war, he was able to go to college to study under the GI Bill. He chose a career associated with his Navy work, electronics, which was just getting started at engineering colleges. Our grandson, Jason Murdock, in the Army Reserves, has returned after a one-year stint in Afghanistan, where he was in ordnance disposal. He is proud of the fact that they were able to find and destroy some of the many landmines that have been planted in that country over the years. They also found and destroyed some large ammunition dumps. This week our 18-year-old grandson, Timothy Murdock, will graduate from Basic Training in the Army. He has been approved for the Special Forces, where he plans to go into counter intelligence. Grandma is doing a lot of praying. Brian Funaiole Nov. 22: Hi. I just Googled my last name and came upon your family list. My Uncle Albert and Aunt Jennie Funaiole are on there, and I figured you might wish to add the missing among that limb of the family tree. There were four sons born to Walter and Lillis (Howlett) Funaiole, my father Ronald, and my uncles Albert, Paul and Walter. Now the large family size on this limb, and my lack of contact with the majority of the family over the recent years, have left my memory rather fuzzy. I am the son of Ronald and Susan (McCaffrey) Funaiole, as is my brother John. My Uncle Albert had many children, and I can only remember David, Martha, Michael, Tereasa, Cindy and Jennifer. I think there is one or two more. My other uncles I have little contact with as Paul lives in Maine and I believe Walter is living in Minnesota. Well I hope this adds a little to your list and If you want a more complete list ask Clyde Howlett. He sent us a copy of our family tree several years ago and I believe he had traced it back as far as William Bradford (yes THAT William Bradford, from history class). Good luck in your endeavor. [Ed. Note: Yes, that is OUR William Bradford. I recall how excited I was to find a book by him in the library at the University of Minnesota.--NAM] Bob Murdock Year 2005 started off like most years - we didn’t stray far from home in the first quarter. But in the remainder of 2005 we visited New England three times and Williamsburg VA once, and we also got as far as Richmond on an aborted trip to South Carolina. On April 23 Margery (my sister) and Jack Aukstikalnis stopped by, en route from New Hampshire to their summer home in Arizona. They joined us for lunch and had a tour of Nan’s quilt and painting galleries, and we all snapped some photos. The visit is reported in the May-June 2005 Muse, and you can see their marvelous motor home in the Muse photo gallery for July and August. Brother Gene organized a Murdock gathering for the Memorial Day weekend in Hubbardston MA, and we celebrated the life of our late sister Lenore Schlicke. Nancy and I drove up from Baltimore, the first extended driving I had done since my bout with shingles in March 2004. You can read about the get-together in the July-August 2005 Muse. The Howlett family reunion in 2005 was celebrated at John and Cathy’s on July 23, rather than July 4. But Sean Howlett provided the traditional fireworks anyhow! Claudia and Dennis Lindsey came all the way from California. Reports by Claudia, Nancy, and Bob can be found in the September-October 2005 Muse. For our annual vacation at a timeshare resort, we chose Attitash Mountain Village in Bartlett, NH, and spent a week there starting with the Labor Day weekend. While there, we were delighted to have a visit from cousin Priscilla and Roy Januskiewicz, and had a phone conversation with cousin Joan Calder. I wrote about the week in the November and December 2005 Muse. In the same issue, Nancy tells about our aborted trip to South Carolina for grandson Timothy Murdock’s graduation from Army Basic Training. Tim’s parents fortunately did get to see Tim graduate, and both Ian and Becky wrote articles for that edition of the Muse. It turned out that we had some Fairfield timeshare points left over, enough for a week in one of our favorite cities, Williamsburg, VA. We have been there half a dozen times, and for our final trip of 2005 we drove down in the second week of November. This year we planned better and had a nice visit with Derek and Rosalind Revilock-Frost. Nancy has a delightful account about our Williamsburg week in part two of this issue of the Muse. Nancy also took two business trips in 2005. She spent a few days in Scottsdale, AZ in early June to get advanced training, and flew to Atlanta at the end of November for more training at the Federal Reserve Bank. Nancy also had one day of training in October at the Human Resources Institute, just east of Washington, DC. I saw on the map that there was a big shopping center across the street, so I offered to drive down with her. Hey, I’m comfortable spending a day at a shopping center. I shopped, ate at a pizza house, did my BOA banking. A pig in clover! Nancy Murdock The Light Was beautiful beyond words Calling him To leave his world Of wrestling with pain Of never being perfect - Come to the Light - With awe and wonder He strained toward the Light The perfect Beauty The enfolding Love - Come to the Light. But the medical team Was too good Working together They wrenched him back From the beautiful Light Brought him back to his family To the troubles and woes Of an imperfect life With no Light. He lived again Walking the Earth Acknowledging friends Watching for God To show him the Way - But he never forgave The medical team And he never forgot The Light. -–Nancy Murdock, 2005 *Stewart was a member of my Bible Study in CA in the early 80s.
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