Parcourez la nécrologie de Howard Sheldon Siegel 2025 résidant dans la province Nova Scotia pour le détail des funérailles
Howie’s Obituary
Howie Siegel Tribute
With contributions from Daniel Montgomery, Naropa Classmate and Nova Scotia friend, brother Bob, and practitioner’s group buddies, Lois Hare , Chris Toplack and Cheendana Martin
Howard Siegel, known to many of his friends as Howie, passed at the Halifax Infirmary on December 29, 2024. He was 82.
Born in New York City to Joseph and Grace Siegel, he was the eldest of 3 children. He is survived by his brother Bob and sister Susan. Howie attended schools for the gifted and transitioned to adulthood in Chicago after his family moved there. His first career was teaching at Merrimack Community College in Missouri where he also mentored Vietnam Vets. After growing up in urban environments, he moved to a farm in Missouri and for most of the rest of his life was a country dweller.
As recalled by Daniel Montgomery, “Howard showed up from his farm in Missouri for the Psychology Master’s program at Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado, summer of 1976, as did I. In his mid-thirties at the time, and ten years older than me, Howie seemed an old soul, carrying (mostly) unspoken ancestral trauma from his Jewish heritage yet he very successfully transitioned to a relaxed country lifestyle. In addition to his practice of meditation, Howie was fond of listening to music and skinny dipping.
In those days he drove a Chevy II station wagon with a bumper sticker that said, “Running on Empty.” Howie was someone who really listened to and contemplated the words of songs from writers like Jackson Browne and Robert Hunter (Grateful Dead lyricist), as poetry, saw the dharma in them, and would often quote them at length.
Fast forward a dozen or so years, Howie and his wife Jaki Connaughton moved to Scots Bay and later Hantsport Nova Scotia. He would stay with my family (Dan) two nights a week in Halifax while working as a substance abuse counselor for the province. The house in Hantsport later became the site of quarterly men’s gatherings, in which we would, as men do, talk through the world’s problems, discuss the path of dharma, its relevance and evolution, take saunas, and partake of Howie’s massive collection of music and music videos.
When Howie left NS Addiction Services, he worked for a private addiction facility and did EAP work until he fully retired. He was a well-respected clinician.
Howie was devoted to life and living in the Annapolis Valley. He loved the rustic spaciousness of NS and became a Canadian citizen. He led the Shambhala meditation group in Wolfville for years. Early on, he gathered a group of health care providers fondly referred to as Practitioners Group who for over 30 years used a method of peer supervision reflecting body, mind and spirit to support one another in their professional practices. This group became his close circle of friends and together they continue to be dedicated to the continuation of this practice, which is being assessed for inclusion in the curriculum of the Masters in Educational Counseling program at Acadia University.
Howie’s remains were laid to rest during a blizzard at the Burlington Green Burial cemetery on January 3. Ten of his old friends from Naropa and the survivors of his men’s group gathered on Zoom January 5 and spent two and a half hours telling stories, too many to repeat here.
Howie was not someone who wore his devotion on his sleeve, rather he practiced as a natural expression of his being. Howard and I (Dan) shared an appetite for irreverence, irony, and laughter.
I’ll leave you with a quote that somehow summarizes the Howie I knew. In 1978, as we were graduating from Naropa, we held a dinner party outside on a beautiful summer night. Howie was dressed in a white sportscoat, Hawaiian shirt with the collar outside the lapels of the sportscoat, and a straw fedora. He raised his glass in a toast, quoting the words of Robert Hunter, the Grateful Dead lyricist:
“Sometimes the light’s all shining on me…
Other times I can barely see.
Lately it occurs to me
What a long, strange trip it’s been.”
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2025
Décès pour la Ville Middleton, Province Nova Scotia
avis deces Howard Sheldon Siegel 2025
nécrologie Howard Sheldon Siegel 2025
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