Robert Thomas Howell was born in Cleveland, OH in 1922 and later lived in Euclid and Fairport Harbor. Bob graduated from Ohio State University where he was a C-deck cheerleader. It was there that he was first exposed to square dancing in 1941. During WWII, while an Officer in the U.S. Navy, he had a chance to get a taste of square dancing while in the Carolinas. Following the war, he did his first calling in a recreational class at Western Reserve University while doing graduate work in 1947, and began calling professionally about six months later. He taught his first square dance class in 1953, and has called in many states as well as Australia, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, and Scotland. Chatting and joking, the nationally acclaimed caller led square and contra dancers in wheelchairs, on unicycles and more. He was a master at all forms of square dancing and he wrote a regular column of "Easy Level" dances each month in the American Square Dance Magazine beginning in 1971. Over the years, he introduced calling and teaching square dancing to many physical education majors attending his university leadership courses. Bob studied with the late Dr. Lloyd "Pappy" Shaw for many years and became a strong "right arm" for Dorothy Shaw, whom he credits as having had the greatest influence over him and his square dance life. He was one of the founders of the Lloyd Shaw Foundation and served on a number of its committees. He was an active member of CALLERLAB since its first convention in 1974, and he received its most prestigious award, The Milestone Award, in 1998. He was a former Chairman of LEGACY, and a Past President of the Cleveland Area Association. Bob died March 2010 at the age of 87.