E. Howard Donahue

1925 - 2015

Dr. E. Howard Donahue

WORCESTER - Dr. E. Howard "Howie" Donahue, age 90, of Southgate in Shrewsbury and formerly of Worcester, died Friday, Sept. 25, 2015 at the Rose Monahan Hospice Home.

He was born April 3rd, 1925 in Worcester, the only son of Edward J. and Sadie P. (Foley) Donahue.

Dr. Donahue was a 1943 graduate of Commerce High School in Worcester. After serving as an aerial photographer in the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II, he resumed his formal education, earning a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in education from Worcester State College. He later received a Ph.D. in education from the University of Conn.

Dr. Donahue was an educator for the Worcester Public Schools from 1950 to 1987. He was a teacher, principal, and ultimately Supervisor of Elementary Education.

He was a 50 year member of the Catholic Sodality of Our Lady at Holy Cross College and served all those years as the sodality's organist. He was also a longtime member of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish and the Emerald Club of Worcester.

He was also appointed to the Quinsigamond Community College Advisory Board for two terms by governors Foster Furcolo and Endicott Peabody in the early 1960s.

He was an accomplished lifelong musician who played piano and guitar. He formed his first band when he was still in high school. He loved big band and Dixieland jazz, but was best known for founding and leading the Avalon Trio. The trio entertained regularly at the old Thompson's Steak House in Westborough for over 10 years, from the mid-50s to the mid-60s. He continued to play piano until just three years before his death, regularly playing for other residents of Southgate.

Dr. Donahue was active in state and local politics, starting in his youth with longtime Worcester Mayor Jimmy O'Brien as well as taking an active role in the senatorial and presidential campaigns of John F. Kennedy and the campaign of Joseph McGuire for Lieutenant Governor in 1966. He remained active in local politics until recent years.

An only child, Howie was very close to his cousins and his extended family. He is survived by his cousins: Dorothy and Norman Sears, their son Thomas Sears, his wife Rosemary and their children, and their daughter Jane Sears-Renfer, her husband John and their children; Barbra Webster, her daughter Susan Webster and her husband Hernan; William and Sara Donahue, their son Walter Donahue, his wife Nobuko and their children, their daughter Kathleen Donahue, their son Gregory Donahue and his children, and their son Sean Donahue and his wife Jennifer; Stephen and Kristen Donahue and their children; Robert Donahue, Jr. and his wife Marcia Cram; Floreida Weldon, her son Robert Weldon, his wife Veronica and their children, her daughter Reginia Weldon-Gilver and her children, her son Paul Weldon his wife Candice and their children, her daughter Emily Weldon-Fix her husband Ronald and their children, and her daughter Elissa Weldon her husband Richard Pothierd and their children; Richard and Virginia Rogers, their son Christopher Rogers, his wife Anne Marie and their children, and their son Michael Rogers his wife Anita and their children.

Additionally, Howie is survived by the children of Mrs. Elizabeth E. Philbin, whom he had known since childhood and who were devoted companions for over 45 years after the untimely death of her husband Joe: William and Joan Philbin and their sons Liam and Patrick, Joyce Philbin and her husband Steve Medak, and Paula Philbin.

Calling hours are Tuesday, Sept. 29, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Athy Memorial Home, 111 Lancaster St., Worcester. The funeral will be Wednesday, Sept. 30, from the funeral home with a Mass at 11 a.m. in Our Lady of Lourdes Church, 1290 Grafton St., Worcester. Burial with military honors will follow in St. John's Cemetery.