The Howe Experience

Dr. Stephen F. Steele ’65 wrote this poem for his class’ Sixtieth Anniversary dinner in Ann Arbor, 18 September 2025, to narrate and recount Howe’s affects on his life. Most Howe grads agree.

Maroon and white essence of another day.
Howe was a compass and a garden.
Colors that helped map the rhythm of our lives.

Indiana sun caressed the perimeter of our
incubator of form and integrity.
So often a place for inner struggle,
personal growth, and internal trials.

A place of moral, spiritual, and personal formation.
Character’s ground, cultivated in ranks on a parade field;
seeds of discipline molding honor into our DNA.

Recall mentors and classmates
who were mirrors for our formation.
Souls who stirred our becoming,
people who carved our inner landscape.
Figures etched into our stories.

Building a life for our own futures,
steppingstone across the tributary of adolescence
fashioned by tradition but carving our own paths.

Howe shaped us – not just in posture or polish, but in principle.
Not always for the best.
A place where character was cultivated and
that integrity was not only thought but also action.

At this gathering of kindred spirits
each class is a human stellar system in a greater constellation.
Howe still stands at parade rest in our personal universes
in a fading but honored tradition.

Though the school closed its gates,
we reflect on our moment, and enduring legacy.
Its spirit still stands at attention within us.

Sixty years of resolute footsteps.
Here, we crossed into who we became –
side by side, sentinels of a bygone era.