Patrick McDowell

Recently, long-time Healdsburg High School science teacher and community member Patrick McDowell passed away. He had been a teacher at Healdsburg High for many years and has always been a very private guy. He would usually keep to himself, but he was still considered as a friend by many whether that be his coworkers or even his students. Even for those who didn’t know him well it was still a shock to hear about this unfortunate event.

Fellow science teacher Andrew Kempiak said:

“He was really private, normally when you walk into a classroom teachers would talk about their day or about their weekend but he was never really like that and he just kept to himself. I think that the plans that were made to honor him are sweet, I walked into the main office once and saw that there was his football number on the desk and I choked up a little bit.”

A student of his also adds:

“I wasn’t very close with him since this is the first year I’ve ever been a student of his, but in the time I did have him I got to know him. I saw him as a wise man, my teacher, he was a very kind and genuine person and always had the concern of others in mind.”

They then go on about how they were shocked to hear the news and that they really like the public funeral idea as they think its the right way for people to honor him.

According to Principal Amy Jones Kerr, the possible plans that were made to honor McDowell include:

Retire his HHS jersey #72
Make t-shirts with #72 on them for staff, students, and community members
Public funeral service at Rec Park in mid-November
Create a school bulletin board where anyone can submit pictures to display
Hold a school assembly with a slideshow of Mr. McDowell - staff and students can share or say what they want or need to say
Principals will go into Mr. McDowell’s science classes to talk to the students and answer any questions they may have
Plant a tree in the community or at HHS

Our school is open for ideas or for people who want to help out plan any activities and it’d be nice to show some sort of respect for a teacher who spent the time and effort to teach so many young minds.