Faith Howland

Faith Howland died peacefully on September 9 at her Concord home, surrounded by her grandchildren, after a yearlong struggle with cancer and corticobasal degeneration.

Daughter of David and Nancy Moller Howland, Faith grew up in New Canaan, Connecticut, graduated from Milton Academy and Wellesley College and pursued the classics as a graduate student at Harvard.

Faith taught and served as director of admissions at Abbot Academy leading up to that school's merger with Phillips Academy. She then joined Robert Parsons' guidance counseling company and subsequently headed the educational consulting firm of Howland and Spence.

Ms Howland was the standard-bearer for the field of independent educational counseling. She was widely acknowledged as the most respected leader in that emerging field. She was loved by students and parents, professionally leading the student and the school to the right match. Her write-ups about students were legendary for their insight and eloquence.

Consultant Allison Matlack of Needham has said, "Faith defined the practice of educational consulting and was a rare and remarkable mix of intellect, compassion, kindness, and forthrightness. A truly remarkable woman in every sense of the word, she has left the world a better place than she found it."

Ms Howland advised a range of students and was an expert in the use of psychometrics in identifying learning challenges. Her analysis often proved to be life changing for students who had been assumed to be intellectually limited, only to find creative brilliance behind treatable skill deficits, finding just the right school for her client.

In many cases, she advised schools on how to develop programming to address students' needs more effectively. She knew the schools to which she referred students inside out. Her frequent visits with former clients reinforced those insights.

Faith helped create and was for many years on the faculty of the esteemed Admissions Workshop of The National Association of Independent Schools. Graduates described the residential program, and Faith's role in it, as the most important professional development experience of their careers.

Ms Howland served as a trustee of Milton Academy, The Nashoba Brooks School of Concord and The Asheville School in North Carolina.

Faith was known for her wry sense of humor and sharp wit, her ease with New York Times crossword puzzles, and dominance in Scrabble against all comers. Polite and kind while playing, her friends and combatants were endlessly frustrated by their fruitless efforts to "challenge" her words. Faith made up for any lingering scrabble frustration by weeding her friends' gardens, delighting all parties.

Faith was devoted to her many friends, and especially to her beloved late husband Geoffrey Pollitt. They loved their cats Victoria and Albert and traveling to Geoff's native England.

Faith is survived by her brother Charles P Howland, her three stepchildren Michael, David and Lesley Pollitt and her two step grandchildren Demeny and Geoffrey Pollitt, and a league of friends, especially Louis Caldarella, all of whom stayed close to her in the past year.

Friends are encouraged to attend a Celebration of Life in Elizabeth B Hall Chapel at Concord Academy 166 Main Street Concord MA at 10:00 am on October 13, 2021. Attendees are asked to park in the West Gate parking lot or on Main Street and to wear masks when indoors.

A recorded link of Faith's service:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1q-QWQtSNm0kUZCHy2BJvimPQfwmDZZa5/view

Gifts in lieu of flowers may be given to:
The Southern Poverty Law Center
400 Washington Avenue
Montgomery, AL 36104
www.splcenter.org

Arrangements under the care of Concord Funeral Home, 74 Belknap Street, Concord, MA 01742 978-369-3388 www.concordfuneral.com