In the summer prior to the 2014 school year, Bill Howlett decided that he would have to step down from his position as a Assistant Principal in the White Pony Center so he could receive treatment for his cancer. Howlett is currently home recovering from his treatment and his absence from the school has been noticeable.

Howlett worked one on one with students with last names Hb-O, but his impact was felt all over the school. Howlett genuinely cared about each and every student in the school and took every opportunity he could to learn new names and faces.

In August 2014, struggling with severe back pain, Howlett was rushed to the emergency room by his wife after he fell and was unable to get back up.

“I went on vacation and must have been taking 2000 milligrams of painkillers a day to get through it. My doctor gave me muscle relaxers and urged me to get physical therapy, neither of which helped. I had a numbness in my legs and eventually fell down in my home and couldn’t get up,” Howlett said.

After many different tests in the emergency room Howlett’s doctor confronted him with a choice.

“My doctor said, your choice is to either go home tonight and spend the next three weeks deciding which doctors to make appointments with and how to get through this, or you can stay here in the hospital and get all that done within the next day… because you have cancer.” Howlett said, “He said it all in one breath. It was an amazing way to break it to me that I had cancer, I had no idea.”

Mr. Howlett was told that he had prostate cancer and that ahead of him lay an intense battle with chemotherapy to try to get rid of his cancer.

“You can’t really cure it unless you catch it early… and we didn’t. They told me that I had stage four prostate cancer which is huge. It had traveled all the way up my back which was causing my back pain,” Howlett said. “We found out that my T12 vertebrae was actually fractured. The cancer had gone all the way around it, and it cracked.”

Howlett is doing well now after six weeks of treatment and recovery, he is currently wearing a brace for his fractured vertebrae and is talking with his surgeon about a potential time he might be able to return to school.

“The cancer will never be gone. But we have essentially killed it, all the spots where the cancer has spread to have stopped growing, but the effects remain. Like that fractured vertebrae, which I will be having surgery on soon” Howlett said.

Howlett’s presence is missed by staff and students alike. Howlett always did what he thought was best for the students in his school.

“Mr. Howlett talked to students in a way that they would respect him but also feel like he was their friend,” senior Jonny Koprek said. “He brought a positive attitude to school every day and did his best to help every student he could.”

Dan Ralston took over as the Interim Assistant Principal in the White Pony Center after Howlett left. Ralston was a counselor in the school for two years until he stepped in to fill the shoes that Howlett left behind.

“There are a great number of staff and students who have a good connection with Mr. Howlett and miss him,” Ralston said, “On a daily basis I get asked how he’s doing or what I know. They compliment the good relations he has and that he’s a good man that connects well with people. So I know that we have a void in our school without him here and we look forward to having him back because it’s not a complete team without him on it.”

The school has done its best to fill the gap left by Howlett’s sudden absence, but the school is missing one bright, smiling face that deserves to be at the place he loves.