State Representative Rodney Elliott recently presented Richard P. Howe Jr. with a Governor’s Citation in recognition of his service as Register of Deeds of the North Middlesex District.

The presentation took place at the office of Howe Legal LLC in the former American Textile History Museum on Dutton Street in Lowell.

Richard’s wife, Roxane Howe, and Martha Howe and Arielle Howe, partners at the Howe law firm, attended the presentation.

Signed by Governor Maura T. Healey and Lieutenant Governor Kimberley Driscoll, the certificate commends Howe for his 30 years of service as Register of Deeds and for his statewide leadership in the use of technology in land records.

A graduate of Providence College, Salem State University, and Suffolk University Law School and a former U.S. Army Intelligence Officer, prior to being elected Register of Deeds in 1994, Howe practiced law in Lowell with his sister Martha and their late father, former Mayor and City Councilor Richard P. Howe.

Howe did not seek reelection in 2024 and retired from state service at the end of the year. The author of several books about Lowell, Howe plans to spend more time researching and writing about Lowell’s history. He was succeeded as Register of Deeds by Karen Cassella, who was elected in last fall’s state election.

The Middlesex North Registry of Deeds District consists of the city of Lowell and the towns of Billerica, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Dracut, Dunstable, Tewksbury, Tyngsborough, Westford and Wilmington.

Rodney Elliott represents the 16th Middlesex District in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

He previously served alongside Richard Howe Sr. on the Lowell City Council and is working with Richard Howe Jr. and others to restore Lowell’s historic Claypit Cemetery.