Howard C. Silverman

I knew him as Monk and I knew him as Howard, but with either name he was my friend. We became friendly in our senior year at Central and the relationship grew closer when we both attended Temple. Unfortunately, in our later years we drifted apart ,but I always thought of Monk as my friend and I will miss him. 

There are many stories I could tell about Monk and I ,but  two of them come to mind. When we were 19 we went to Cape Cod for a short vacation. We drove up in Howard's Impala,you know, the one with rthe big fins. Before we left Howard's father gave him a $20.00 bill and told him to use it in case of an emergency. Well being the financial geniuses we were we spent every sent we had and were coming home with 16 cents in our combined possession. As we approached Trenton N.J. on our way home ,we realized that we were going to go over a toll bridge. Both of us had visions of being trapped in N.J. since our funds were so limited. The bridge toll was 15 cents and we happily passed over it with one penny to our names. Great planning, huh?

Another incident  happened in NYC. We had gone there to relive the class trip. Anyway we travelled to NYC for a long weekend. While walking around Manhattan we decided to do a little shopping in Brooks Bros. Brooks Bros. had 2 stores at that time. One was in San Francico and the other one in NYC. So, it was an adventure to go into such a famous store and look at the merchandise with incredibly high prices. Prices that neither Monk nor I could afford. Anyway, as we walked around the store we came to a counter with men's socks for sale. Howard asked the salesman to show him a few pairs. The least expensive pair was $10 Needless to say we thought the prices were unreal. So after being shown the socks,the saleman asked which ones we liked. After hearing the sales price, Howard replied that if he bought the socks with those prices he wouldn't wear shoes The security people weren't real happy as they ushered us out of the store.

As I said, I really only have happy memories of Monk. My sincerest condolences to his family. He will always be considered a friend . RIP Howard/Monk

Ron Fogel

There was something both fearless, uncalculated and vulnerable about the flow of Monk's emotions. It's what I felt when we were students, and when we chatted at a reunion a few decades later. I wasn't sure his name was Howard C. Silverman until I got to the photo, but maybe I knew because I was very sad as if hoping it wasn't him. A very special guy. So long, Monk. Yes, as you once asked me--at that renunion--we were friends.