Harry Maurice Howard A Lifetime of Music, Mentorship, and Community

Harry Maurice Howard A Lifetime of Music, Mentorship, and Community

By lwilliams@semourbanvoices.com - November 24, 2025

Sunset to Spotlight

On October 9, 1945, in the heart of Sunset Addition, Sikeston—a neighborhood shaped by parallel histories and hidden stories—Harry Maurice Howard entered the world. He was the youngest of thirteen children born to Edgar and Jennie Howard, inheriting a rich legacy of family, resilience, and place. From childhood, he moved through the rhythms of a tight-knit community, weaving his own melody into the existing tapestry.

Sunset Addition, for Black families in mid-20th-century Sikeston, was more than a location: it was a cultural hub, a zone of self-sufficiency. There was a movie theater, dry cleaners, local shops, and corner gathering spots. As Howard later recalled in interviews, Sunset felt like “a self-sufficient community” in its own right.

Young Harry attended the old Lincoln School on Westgate Street in Sikeston’s Black neighborhood, absorbing not only musical notes but community hopes. He graduated from Sikeston High School in 1963, stepping into adulthood at a time when the wider American world was shifting in the crossroads of civil rights and cultural change.

His giftedness with piano sparked deeper study. He journeyed to Lincoln University, where he completed a Bachelor’s degree in piano and music education. Not content to stop there, he pressed on to the University of Colorado at Boulder, earning a Master’s in pipe organ and choral directing in 1973.

A Life of Teaching, Music, Movement

Howard’s professional life spanned states and stages. He taught music in Colorado, New York, and Kentucky, offering private instruction in piano, organ, voice, and leading choral ensembles. Over the decades, he nurtured students whose lives may never know the full arc of his influence—but whose voices, literally or figuratively, bear his imprint.

In 1999, after years of travel and teaching elsewhere, Harry returned home to Sikeston. His return wasn’t just geographical; it was a recommitment. He wanted to invest in the place that shaped him, to rekindle connections across generations.

He co-founded “Return to Sunset”, an annual celebration of heritage, memory, and reunion. Over time, it has become a signature event in Sikeston: a way for descendants of Sunset and neighboring areas to return, gather, celebrate, and remember.

Harry also became president of the Westend Empowerment Community Betterment Association, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Under his leadership, the association has addressed local needs, organized community events, and become a voice for healing, remembrance, and civic purpose.

He has contributed to public remembrance efforts, too: when Sikeston recently recognized the 80th anniversary of the lynching of Cleo Wright (a tragic moment in local history), Howard stood in the foreground, helping lead the community in remembrance and reconciliation.

He also participated in the “Silence in Sikeston” documentary and podcast, Howard speaks about Sunset and its history, the 1942 lynching of Cleo Wright, and the fissures of racial space in the city. He recalls how some Black families once feared crossing the railroad tracks after dark; how the tracks themselves formed a boundary in lived experience.

Within the city’s official stewardship, he has served in civic roles. In the 2024 Sikeston annual report, Howard is identified among contributors to city initiatives.

As of the present day, Harry Howard continues to work as pipe organist at the historic First United Methodist Church in Sikeston and gives private lessons in music. His deep roots in both musical craft and local community remain intertwined.

Moments, Honors, and Reflections

Over his decades of service, Howard has accumulated honors: earlier in life, he was recognized in Outstanding Young Men in America and listed in Who’s Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities. He’s a member of Phi Mu Alpha (music fraternity), the Music Educators National Association, the National Association of Negro Musicians, and the NAACP.

He recently celebrated his 80th birthday and marked 65 years in music ministry. The community responded with joy: receptions, reflections, gatherings honoring not only his longevity but the constancy of devotion.

A Story Told Forward

Beyond accolades, what stands out is the quiet persistence — decades of teaching, performing, composing or guiding choirs, civic organizing, bridging memory and future.

From Sunset’s beginnings to the sanctuaries and classrooms across the nation, his music has been a thread of continuity and hope — a bridge between generations, and a song that continues to uplift his hometown.

“Music is not just what I do — it’s how I serve.”
— Harry M. Howard