Howard Andrews, 81, Was Sportsman, Veteran

William Howard Andrews Jr., a beloved figure in Edgartown and across the Island, died April 20 at the Martha's Vineyard Hospital. He was 81.

He was born at home in Vineyard Haven at the corner of Edgartown Road and Skiff avenue on Feb. 4, 1923. A year later his sister, Lucille (Andrews) Engley, was born. She maintained he was a first class bratty brother. His father, Billy, was the proprietor of Andrews Barber Shop on Main street, a popular congregating point for the men in town. Besides being a barber, he was an active member of the community, belonging to several organizations. He was one of the founders of the Holy Ghost Society, and enjoyed hunting, fishing and playing the piano. He owned a camp on Lake Tashmoo which was the scene of much merriment with his male friends.

Howard's mother was the former Edna Jackson, daughter of a prominent Edgartown family of fishermen. She was a reporter for the New Bedford Standard Times for 40 years and was also a member of many clubs and organizations. She was known for her knitting, which she worked on through a variety of events, from covering juicy trials to meetings of her clubs.

Howard's boyhood was like a Vineyard version of Huckleberry Finn. Whenever he wasn't in school, he was out of doors exploring with his neighborhood pals. He loved to tell of his youthful Island adventures such as pushing home a wheelbarrow of herring from Lake Tashmoo with his friend, Arthur Silva. Or playing with Sidney Counsell in Fisher's barn on Skiff avenue where, at age 14, he fell from the haymow, breaking both arms. The doctors at the nearby Marine Hospital applied casts which made him unable to feed or dress himself for weeks. One winter, he found a lot of black snakes hibernating in a stone pit on the property of the old Innisfail Hotel. He brought them home and put them in his father's chicken house, where they revived in the morning, terrorizing the hens.

As a teenager, Howard held several summer jobs. One was washing dishes at the West Chop Tennis Club, where his father played piano occasionally for the dances. He caddied at old Tashmoo Golf Club located where the overlook slopes down to the water company now. Right after Mink Meadows was constructed, he was paid 25 cents an hour for picking weeds out of the newly-seeded greens. He was Katharine Cornell's favorite caddy. One day while on the links with Miss Cornell, her dachshund walked between her putt and the hole; Howard, holding the flag, stuck his foot under the dog while the ball rolled into the hole. Years later, as a Marine passing through Chicago, he learned that Miss Cornell was appearing in a play at the Erlanger Theatre. He contacted her, and she reserved front-row seats and insisted he and his very-impressed date visit backstage.

Howard was graduated from Tisbury High in 1940. Along with classmates Ruth (Cronig) Stiller and Shirley (Cronig) Smith, he was instrumental in arranging class reunions through the years. He started work in New Bedford with the New England Telephone and Telegraph Company, retiring after service of 30 years. Shortly after Pearl Harbor he enlisted in the Marines. He served with Pappy Boyington's Black Sheep Squadron in the South Pacific. Howard had gone to Boston with the intention of joining the Coast Guard. His father had arranged a letter of recommendation from a Coast Guard official who was Billy's friend. But there were long lines for the Coast Guard recruiter as well as for the Army and the Navy. All his life Howard could not abide waiting in line. The line at the Marines was short, and since he was at this point worried he'd miss the last train back to Woods Hole, he signed up with the Marines. Back in Vineyard Haven, Billy was so angry he hardly spoke to him, but when Howard returned after his service in the South Pacific, a prouder father there never was.

Until her death in 1970, Howard was especially close to his mother. Perhaps it was he appreciated her tenderness in caring for him while his arms healed. He saved all the letters she wrote to him during his military service, just as she saved all of his letters to her.

After the war, Howard returned to Vineyard Haven, working eventually as a test man in the office in the building which is now Educomp. After his first marriage ended in divorce, he transferred to the test board in Cataumet and lived in North Falmouth for eight years. While on the Cape, he continued to garden and also raised beagles and was an active member of the Cape Cod Beagle Club. Lyndon Johnson was president at the time and all the pups that Gunsmoke and Sally produced quickly found homes, mostly with military families living on nearby Otis Air Force Base.

Back on the Vineyard after the death of his mother in 1970, and retired from the phone company, he became keeper of the Dukes County Jail where he and his wife, Jean (Perry) Andrews, lived for four years until they built their home on Clark Drive. Police and attorneys said the food Howard served at the jail was exceptional, including his kale soup (from his garden there) and clam boils complete with linguica.

After his jail job, he became a part-time auctioneer, the Edgartown Cemetery superintendent, shellfish committee chairman and, like his father before him, sold monuments. Replacing the old picket fence around the cemetery with the relatively maintenance-free one there now was something he was proud of, although some people weren't happy with the change. Howard was called upon to set up a fake cemetery between the Old Whaling Church and the Dr. Fisher House for the movie Jaws - the Revenge. He did such a convincing job that locals stopping by commented that they had never noticed that cemetery there.

Fishing and hunting were constants in his life. During the first whitetail deer hunting season, he bagged a 180-pound buck. He was an avid participant in the fishing derby until it became too commercial in his opinion and his waders had been pierced one too many times by hooks left by the crowds on the beaches.

In 1958, the Martha's Vineyard Rod and Gun Club was looking for a permanent home and Howard and his good friend, Ed Tyra, investigated several Island properties that were on the market. They settled on the expanse on Anthier's Pond where the club is located. He preferred the name Anthier's rather than Sengekontacket. He was president of the club more than once, and of all the organizations, clubs and fraternal organizations he was affiliated with, he worked hardest for and was most proud of his association with the club. Always a true sportsman, Howard once refused to weigh in the striped bass that would have won the derby because, although he did bring it ashore by hand after a fellow's reel dropped off into the surf, it had been hooked by another fisherman not entered in the derby.

Not fond of traveling or taking vacations other than hunting trips to Maine and business trips to pick up granite in Vermont for the monument business, he was happy to be on the Island. In 1978, his friend, Ed Prada, suggested a trip to Portugal to the Azores where they hoped to see the birthplace of their ancestors. Howard enjoyed the Azores so much, he returned four times. At first, he was anxious to try the various Portuguese phrases he had learned from his boyhood chums but was soon cautioned that this might not be a good idea. Although he didn't speak the language, people there always approached him and tried to start conversations. He relied on his wife's translation skills. Interviewing fishermen challenged the more domestically-oriented vocabulary learned from her grandmother. Just last month he phoned a friend in Fayal and had him send kale seeds. Although his health was failing, he had a plan for this summer's garden. Not able to venture out in the yard, he had his neighbor, Ed Rogers, build a box off the deck to raise some tomato plants in.

Although Howard's gardening prowess included a vegetable garden, an apple orchard and lots of rhubarb, he will probably be best remembered for his cultivation of dahlias, and was known by some as Dr. Dahlia. Some years he grew as many as 500 plants. He raised them because he loved them, and he loved to present bouquets of them all over the Island.

His daughter Melanie's children visited Howard's backyard hens frequently. The girls, now grown, still refer to him as Grandpa Chicken. Known also as Mayor of the Neighborhood, he greeted all newcomers and considered all his friends.

His keen wit and sense of humor, combined with his interest in local issues, led to his production of the now-legendary bumper stickers, "Poor Martha" and "This Car Made It Thru the Cooke Street Intersection." Just recently, he had T-shirts printed with "Old gardeners never die, they just go to seed."

As his 80th birthday approached in 2003, Howard planned a big bash - not in February, but on July 4. Friends, neighbors and most of his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren surrounded him with love.

In addition to his wife of 42 years, he is survived by his daughters, Wendy Ruth Andrews of Vineyard Haven, Melanie da Rosa of Oak Bluffs, Susan Elizabeth Andrews of Salem and a son, William H. Andrews 3rd of Nantucket. He leaves nine grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. A celebration of Howard's life will be held later this spring. Donations in his memory may be made to the Vineyard Nursing Association, P.O. Box 2568, Oak Bluffs, MA 02557.