My Life With Comic Books: A History of A Comic Shop Part # 217

 

A brief introduction:

My name is Paul Howley, owner of the Eisner Award winning pop culture collector’s store known as “That’s Entertainment” in Worcester, Massachusetts and a second store in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Some people have called me the “luckiest man in the comic book business.” (I’m not) My stores have been around for over forty years and it’s been a long and interesting combination of events and people that have brought these stores to this current place. It is not my intent to boast or brag about my store or my life. I just want to tell you my story. In many instances, my wife remembers things a little differently, but this is the truth as I remember it.

The Current Cast of Characters:

Paul Howley: age 49

Mal Howley: age 50

Adam Howley: my son, age 21

Cassy Howley: my daughter, age 20

MY LIFE WITH COMIC BOOKS: THE HISTORY OF A COMIC SHOP:  Part #217

   The day after Mal’s father’s funeral, we left early in the morning to begin the very long drive from Massachusetts back to Florida. We were traveling about seventy miles per hour along a highway in rural Connecticut when we were passed by five young men on motorcycles. They must have been going at least ninety miles per hour.  Mal and I looked at each other and thought, “Crazy kids.”

   As the group of motorcycle-rider guys picked up speed and pulled further ahead of us, we saw one of the riders hit something  in the road (like a small rock) and he lost control of the bike. His helmet flew off his head (we had noticed as he had passed us that the helmet was unstrapped) as the motorcycle flipped over and over and his body slammed against the wire guardrail along the left side of the highway.

   I pulled my car over to the right side breakdown lane, asked Mal to call the police to notify them about the accident, and to give them the mile-marker number that I saw posted on the highway. I got out of my vehicle and ran across the mostly deserted highway to the accident victim.  The rider was sitting upright on the road with his leather jacket shifted over his head and his motorcycle was shattered into pieces about fifty feet away. I couldn’t tell if he was alive but I noticed a pool of blood growing on the ground around him. I spoke to him, knowing he most likely couldn’t respond and told him help was on the way.

   The victim’s friends hadn’t noticed that he wasn’t still riding behind them as they sped down the highway but by the time the police arrived, one of his friends had returned to the scene. When he saw the large pool of blood on the ground he freaked out. I tried to get him to be quiet, just in case his friend was still alive.

   The police officer had already called an ambulance but before it arrived, he tried to remove the motorcyclist’s leather jacket. When he did, the front of the rider’s skull fell off. Clearly, he wasn’t alive.

   I stayed there with them until the ambulance arrived. Since there was nothing I could do to help anyone, I returned to my car and we continued our long ride home. Mal and I both talked about how sad this was. The young man probably left his home thinking he was going to have a fun day of riding with his friends. We thought about his parents and the notification by the police about their son’s death that they’d soon get. As I write this story, eighteen years later, I still think about this tragedy.

Next chapter: The Wedding

  

My Life With Comic Books: A History Of A Comic Shop Part # 216

 

A brief introduction:

My name is Paul Howley, owner of the Eisner Award winning pop culture collector’s store known as “That’s Entertainment” in Worcester, Massachusetts and a second store in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Some people have called me the “luckiest man in the comic book business.” (I’m not) My stores have been around for over forty years and it’s been a long and interesting combination of events and people that have brought these stores to this current place. It is not my intent to boast or brag about my store or my life. I just want to tell you my story. In many instances, my wife remembers things a little differently, but this is the truth as I remember it.

The Current Cast of Characters:

Paul Howley: age 49

Mal Howley: age 50

Adam Howley: my son, age 21

Cassy Howley: my daughter, age 20

Richard A. Daher: Mal’s father: age 78

MY LIFE WITH COMIC BOOKS: THE HISTORY OF A COMIC SHOP:  Part #216

   In 2003, while we were living in Florida, we learned that Mal’s father had another stroke. Richard had some health issues over the years starting with his first heart attack at age 48. He was a heavy smoker most of his life. He had a stroke that changed his emotional response so that he’d cry when he meant to laugh; but overall, he was a strong physical man. He lived with his wife , Helen, in central Florida, about two hours away from us. Mal’s oldest sister, Ginny, and her husband Denis, lived very close to them.

   Mal and I packed some clothes and drove across the state to the hospital in the town of Celebration, Florida. Richard had been admitted to the Advent Health Celebration Hospital and we were very impressed by the doctors, nurses, and staff there. The hospital (and the entire town!) was planned and designed by The Walt Disney Company in the 1990s to be close the original Walt Disney idea of Epcot (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow). This state-of-the-art hospital facility was beautiful to look at and every staff member we encountered was friendly, professional and helpful. Most importantly, the doctors and nurses seemed to actually care about the patients. In fact, it was not uncommon to find doctors and nurses praying for their patients. I appreciated that since most of my interactions with doctors tended to be negative experiences.

   Our visit with Richard was short. The stroke had severely affected his ability to speak and he had lost the use of one side of his body. He also had a feeding tube down his throat that made speaking a struggle. We knew he needed to rest so we headed to Ginny and Denis’ home.

   Ginny’s home had a bedroom for guests and they graciously offered to let us stay with them. We all had no idea how long Richard was going to be hospitalized so we’d all try to make the best of the situation.

   The next day when we went to visit him, Mal and I were surprised to run into a man we knew from Massachusetts named Stacy Nelson. He used to service our swimming pool back in the 1980s although he had a Master’s degree in nutrition and health. He had moved to Celebration, Florida when his application for residency in the community was accepted. Stacy recognized us too and he spent some time reassuring us that there was no better hospital for Richard to be in.

   Mal’s sister Rose also lived nearby and we would all gather at the hospital once she, Ginny and Denis got out of work each day. Over the next few days, Mal’s other siblings arrived from Massachusetts (Madeline and Richard Jr.), North Carolina (Alan), and Georgia (Carol and her husband Mike). Over the next few weeks there were lots of visitors at the hospital. Even though it was sad to see Richard lying in the bed with a feeding tube down his throat, struggling to communicate, I think he appreciated everyone being there. The stroke affected the muscles of his throat and he had great difficulty swallowing. Eventually, at Richard’s insistence,  the hospital removed the feeding tube and put a line directly into his stomach for feeding. This allowed him to respond to family and friends a little bit better.

   Mal and I had to go back home to Jupiter several times to take care of some things like paying monthly bills since we didn’t know how long Richard was going to be hospitalized. As it turned out, after a little over four weeks, Richard A. Daher died in the hospital on September 13, 2003 with many of his family members at his side.

   Richard’s funeral was to be held in Saint Michael’s Catholic Church in Hudson, Massachusetts where he had lived for a long time. The whole family gathered the night before the service at Mal’s sister Madeline’s home and they all contributed information and anecdotes about Richard in order to create a eulogy. Mal’s younger brother Alan volunteered to present it at the church and he did a great job. As the funeral service neared the end, the priest was waving the containers of burning incense around Richard’s casket, nearly choking those closest to it with the smoke and stench. Denis leaned over to Helen and said, “Richard got to smoke one last time.”

   After the church service we went to the cemetery and Richard was buried with his wife Madeline. Later that evening we all gathered at Mal’s sister Madeline’s home again and we shared thoughts and stories about Richard. Losing such an important family member made us realize that we should try to make plans for a regular family get-together while we were all still alive and healthy. Early the next morning Mal and I said goodbye and began the long, 26 hour drive home to Florida.