{"id":52044,"date":"2026-08-29T18:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T22:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/?p=52044"},"modified":"2026-08-25T14:24:46","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T18:24:46","slug":"howard-gray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/howard-gray\/","title":{"rendered":"Howard Gray"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A story that touched my heart. One of those things that you listen to in the shower and wow. Something that\u2019s happened to all of us and shouldn\u2019t. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m always amazed how a song tell a story in a few sentences. I\u2019ve mentioned before John Schmidt from Berlin, Ohio. He could have been one of the most popular singers but gave this up for a prison ministry. I\u2019m listening to a concert and this song comes up. John enunciate so well that it\u2019s not hard to pick up the lyrics:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMost everyone I knew put the whole<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGray family down <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey were the poorest family in our little Kansas town<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHoward sat across from me in 7th<\/sup> grade in school <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t like it much but Mama taught the Golden rule<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou see Howard was the type that is easy to pick on. He was different. If you kind of liked him a bit, and I didn\u2019t tease him which made him think I was his friend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo when the spitballs flew at him I never did join in. I would look and see the grateful eyes of Howard Gray looking back at me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But things were about to get rocky. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day I did something that I will regret the rest of my life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne day after lunch I went to comb my hair and saw they had Howard pinned against the lockers in the hall and they had his left arm pinned behind him until it hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSomehow I can\u2019t explain how I ended up laughing with the rest. Till this day I can still see the eyes of Howard Gray looking back at me. I wanted to apologize but I was too afraid to be a friend to you Howard Gray.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe never smiled at me nor looked my way again. Not much longer after that his family moved away and that\u2019s all I ever heard of Howard Gray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was 20 years ago and I still haven\u2019t found why we kick our brother or our sister when they\u2019re down. I only hope you’ll hear this song someday and know that we are sorry Howard Gray\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lifetime of regret. My three youngest grandkids are super athletes and straight A students. I\u2019ve told them from day one, find someone that is not part of the \u2018in\u2019 crowd and eat lunch with them, or just be their friend. I don\u2019t know if this has helped but they always have a couple of friends with them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that is not the end of the story. This song was written and sung by Lee Dolman from Nashville, TN, who is a friend of Johnny\u2019s. Johnny asked him if he ever saw Howard Gray again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee said, \u201cAs a matter of fact I did.\u201d Last year my dad passed away and as they lowered the casket I looked up and saw a face with a tear in his eye. I walked right up to him, stood beside him and put my arm around him. \u201cWill you forgive me?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYuh.\u201d 20 years of guilt lifted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Howard never returned to school after the 7th grade and had only low paying jobs. He heard the song on the radio and now he was getting fan mail. A few years later, Johnny stopped by. \u201cI\u2019ve been singing your song.\u201d Johnny told him that every time he sings his song he will send him $25. After that Common Ground Ministry sent him $100 a month until his death. Sometimes all you have to do to help someone on his way is to be kind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PS: I Love sunflowers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014James Neuhouser<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A story that touched my heart. One of those things that you listen to in the shower and wow. Something<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":52045,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[25],"tags":[29908,29907,17044,22803,29909,23967],"class_list":["post-52044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","tag-berlin-ohio","tag-howard-gray","tag-james-neuhouser","tag-john-schmidt","tag-lee-dolman","tag-nashville-tn"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t