John Meigs Howard, 100, the oldest living alumnus of Wyndcroft known to us, passed away on May 17, 2017. He was born in St. Paul, Minnesota on May 13, 1917. John completed the Seventh Grade at Wyndcroft, then entered The Hill School in the Second Form. He was graduated from Williams College in 1940. He entered the US Army in 1940, serving in both World War II and the Korean conflict, leaving the service in 1953 at the rank of Captain. John subsequently was employed by Curtis and Smith and then Dana Corporation as a purchasing agent. He resided in Pottstown most of his life. He was a member of the Rotary and Optimist Clubs, serving as president of each during his years of service. John was a Paul Harris Fellow in the Rotary Club.
John’s lineage was the lineage of The Hill School, and of Wyndcroft itself. He was the grandson of John Meigs, Headmaster of The Hill from 1876 to 1911, and the great-grandson of the Rev. Matthew Meigs, founder of The Hill and its first Headmaster from 1851 to 1876. He was also the grand-nephew of Dwight Meigs, Headmaster of The Hill from 1914 to 1922, who led the group that created Wyndcroft.
In 1916 Dwight Meigs engaged a tutor for his daughter, Marsha. So that Marsha wouldn’t be lonely, he arranged for a few other Hill School faculty children to join her to make up a nursery school. This little nursery school was the forerunner of Wyndcroft because Dwight Meigs and other Hill School and Pottstown people soon recognized the need for an independent day school. Meigs and his group selected a committee to plan such a school. That school was Wyndcroft, which welcomed its first students in the fall of 1918.
John was married to E. Miriam “Mim” (Snyder), who predeceased him in 1997. He is survived by a daughter Karen, wife of John P. Gibson, of Woodbine, MD, and four grandsons: Matthew, David, Jonathan, and Michael. He also had three great grandchildren, Luke, Lizzie, and Maisey. In addition, John is survived by his sister, Margaret H. Long and his loving partner, Lynne Maack. He was predeceased by his parents, Kenneth and Margaret Howard, and his brother, Kenneth Howard.
Robert Evans ’65, Wyndcroft’s Director of Development, adds, “John was a longtime family friend who played bridge with my parents. He was so modest that for many years I didn’t even know that he was a direct descendant of The Hill School’s founding Meigs family. When I finally asked him whether it was so, all I got was a quick nod. The list of John’s community activities in public obituaries doesn’t begin to cover all he did for Pottstown. Among his many other accomplishments, John ably served as President of the Bringhurst Trust of Pottstown, which my father, former Wyndcroft Trustee Robert W. Evans, Jr., managed as Secretary. This Trust was established in 1879 under the Will of Wright Bringhurst to provide homes for deserving families of limited means at greatly reduced rents.”