Howard Dilworth

by Lynne Ober

Long time resident Howard Dilworth, Jr. was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His family moved first to Bedford, Massachusetts and then moved to Hudson in 1966.

He attended St. John Evangelist School (now Library Street School) for two years before going to Alvirne High School. He graduated from Alvirne in 1972. Howard studied for four years in the agricultural education program at Alvirne. “I’m a charter and life member of FFA (Future Farmers of America) Alumni Association. I learned about parliamentary procedure and speaking before a group in FFA,” Howard said.

“I got interested in town government while I was a student at Alvirne,” Howard recalls. “I took Public Speaking from Mrs. Pryor and she made us attend town meetings. I found it fascinating.” That is a fascination that Howard still has today.

In 1973 Howard went to work and also joined the Hudson Fire Department as a call firefighter. Howard was a call firefighter for twenty-seven years. He loved being part of the call firefighter force, but was downsized when former Fire Chief Frank Carpentino downsized the call force.

When asked about his work, Howard smiles. “I’m a little bit like a dark omen. I worked at Centronics (now closed) and for Itek Company (also closed) for seven years. It’s the nature of manufacturing in America, although it looks like manufacturing might be staging a bit of a come back.” Howard also worked for Sanders “off and on for fifteen years. They’ve had plenty of ups and downs too.”

In 1992 Howard was appointed by the Moderator to the Budget Committee to fill in for a former member who got elected to Town Council. In 1993 he ran and was elected to the Budget Committee.

Then in 1994 when Hudson switched governing bodies from Town Council to Selectmen, Howard ran and was elected as a Selectmen. He served a three-year term as a Selectman.

In 1998 he was again appointed to the Budget Committee, “and I’ve pretty much been there ever since,” Howard laughs. Howard not only serves on Hudson’s Budget Committee, he studies budgetary law and how the state processes budgets. He is a font of information about budget law, legal cases about budgetary matter or any other budget trivia that one might want to know. Just ask Howard.

Howard was one of the founding members of the Coalition of New Hampshire Taxpayers, a watch group for state government matters, in 1998 and is their First Vice Chairman.

Howard loves history and has been a member of the Hudson Historical Society longer than he can remember. “I was president in 1992 – 1994 and I’ve been the Vice President ever since.” He’s an active member of the Historical Society’s Old Home Days staff. “The last couple of years I’ve been responsible for making sure that the ticket booth staff have enough change and tickets and are comfortable. I’ve also worked in the food booth that the Historical Society runs.”

Howard has been a member of Hudson’s Sewer Commission since 1998 and is still active on that commission today.

He’s been a member of Nashua Regional Planning Commission (NRPC) and is on the Executive Board of the Planning Commission. “I’m the Treasurer of the Nashua Regional Planning Commission’s Executive Board. I was asked because I’m detailed oriented, but I really think no one else wanted to do it,” he laughed. The NRPC is involved in metropolitan planning, roadway projects and state and federal aid for a variety of projects. “We have four reps,” Howard said. “I enjoy working with that group. It’s interesting to see how our area has grown over the years.”

Currently Howard is the Vice Chairman of Hudson’s Budget Committee. He served as Chairman for the last two years and developed a process for reviewing each department’s budget. “The process helps people come to the Budget Committee better prepared and helps us focus on what we need to do,” Howard said.

Howard’s vision for Hudson is to make Hudson an affordable community where everyone can afford to live. “Taxes have really gone up. Part of the Budget Committee’s job is to watch the budgets and to work toward keeping Hudson affordable,” he said.

Howard admits to having two hobbies. One of them is to attend a variety of governmental meetings. He can often be found at Selectmen or School Board meetings and admits to attending other various committee meetings. The governmental process intrigues him.

But he’s also a movie buff. “I think I got started when I worked for General Cinema. Gee, another company that’s not in business any more,” he grins. “I learned to love movies and I still do.”

If he’s not at a governmental meeting, testifying before the House or watching a movie, Howard is reading. “I read a lot of fiction and a lot of governmental publications.”