Louis Howard

  A visit with Louie is a musical experience. Myself being �musically challenged� and barely able to play the radio, I am at awe with people that can pick up a musical instrument and make it sing. The love that Louie has for Accordion and Organ music becomes the dominant characteristic of a conversation about his life these days.
After a brief conversation of his history after high school, the music takes center stage. The nature of Accordion music is light hearted and festive so that became the nature atmosphere from then on. Louie introduced his new Accordion, a Zupan � 72 base button model with keyboard, as his newest prize possession. These instruments are beautiful works of hand-made musical art. Then from this magnificent looking instrument came the joyous music that one is familiar hearing from Accordion players. He played, by ear, songs with origins from Germany, Switzerland, Slovakia, and from some American artists.

   Louie said that the way he learned to play the Accordion was by listening to other artists and playing what they played. All of his talent is self-taught that was an expansion of his piano lessons in his youth. If this wasn�t awesome enough, he presented a larger Weltmeister Model with 120 base buttons and 41 key keyboard.  This was his original Accordion and he soon had it singing waltzes and other joyous melodies. Soon after playing this Accordion, he said, �let me play you something on the organ.� So he whirled around and began making this large organ come alive with music. From the three instruments, he played at least 15 songs without sheet music as he memorized them through his love for this form of music.
He is frequently off to �sit in� with other musicians for this type of music. He travels throughout Western Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio and even to Michigan to play with other artists and attend festivals. His mother usually accompanies him, as she really loves this music too.
To get back to what Louie has been doing with his life since high school, one has to refer to ancient societies that has �Historian� that kept track of where everyone was and followed the genealogy as families intertwined through marriages and childbirths. One of our historians is Louie. As a Barber in this community since the late 1960�s, he has regular conversations with many members of the community. Add that contact with his strong ability to remember details, he has close to the best running knowledge of where people are and whom they are related to.

   Louie served for two years of active duty in the Navy on the aircraft carrier the USS Independence as it did a Mediterranean and a Caribbean tour of duty, and seven years in the Naval Reserve.