B. Douglas Townshend, Jr.

B. Douglas Townshend, Jr., 86, formerly of Lowell, died peacefully on Saturday, September 26, 2020, near his retirement home in Zephyrhills, Florida. Doug was born in Nashua, NH on January 15,

1934, the son of Bruce D. Townshend, Sr., and Natalie (Blake) Townshend, and was raised in Lowell.

Doug Townshend was a 1952 graduate of Lowell High School and earned his degree in music from Lowell State College in 1956. Doug was drafted into the US Army from 1958-1960, serving in Germany. Although he never bragged about it, Doug served in the same brigade and met Elvis Presley during that time, and always spoke very highly of Presley’s talent and the fact that he was as good a soldier as he was a musician.

Doug was a long-time music teacher at Lowell High School, beginning his tenure there in 1966 and retiring in 1997. Affectionately known to his decades of students as “Biddit” (a play on the pronunciation of his initials), “Mr. T.” or simply

“T,” Doug was Lowell’s own “Mr. Holland” like the character in the movie Mr. Holland’s Opus. Doug Townshend’s opus is the love of music he instilled in his students, and the legacy of it that lives on in the LHS Alumni Chorus, which Doug founded in 1997. The stage in the Lowell High School auditorium was dedicated to and named for him in 2005.

Doug married the love of his life, Theresa M. “Teri” Townshend in 1961, and they raised their two sons, Bruce and Kevin, in Lowell. After retiring from teaching, Doug remained active in music directing the choir at the Eliot Presbyterian Church in Lowell, and as a member of several bands in Lowell and in Ocean Park, Maine. When he and Teri moved to their retirement home in Zephyrhills, he quickly became the director of the men’s chorus for the retirement community where they lived.

Doug was predeceased by his parents and by his wife of nearly 59 years, Teri, in April, 2020. He is survived by his sons, Bruce D. Townshend, III, and his fiancé Robin Goldthwaite Bush of Linden, VA; his son Kevin T. Townshend and his wife Kristen (Swanson) Townshend of Zephyrhills, Florida; sister Natalie (Townshend) Ogilvie and her husband George, of Littleton, MA; four grandchildren, six great grandchildren, and many nieces, nephews and cousins. Further, Doug is survived by the hundreds of his students who looked upon him as a teacher, mentor, and father figure. He was as proud of that as any man could be and considered so many of his students as children of his own.

In Doug’s memory, the family asks that you donate generously to organizations researching treatment and cures for the diseases which affect the cognitive abilities, such as the Dementia Society. Doug’s family and sons will host a Celebration of Life for both Doug and Teri in the near future, in or near Lowell.