Neal Houston, who served nearly three decades as chief of staff to Republican Robert Stafford, a Vermont governor, congressman and senator known for his work on education and the environment, died Aug. 16 at a health care center in Bennington, Vermont. He was 87.
The cause was complications from Alzheimer’s disease, said William Steponkus, a colleague on Capitol Hill.
Houston served as Stafford’s chief of staff from 1959 until the senator retired in 1989, making him one of the longest-serving chiefs of staff for a single member of Congress, the New York Times reported at the time.
He collaborated extensively with Stafford on the Federal Guaranteed Student Loan program, which offers federally subsidized loans for college students. In 1988, Congress named the program in the senator’s honor.
Upon leaving Washington in 1989, Houston lamented the tendency of a younger generation of Capitol Hill staffers to jump from office to office with frequency in the hope of a more prominent assignment.
“There does not seem to be any commitment — any long-term commitment anymore,” he told the Times. “I think it is considered more of a stepping stone to something else.”
Neal Joseph Houston was born Aug. 22, 1926, in Barre, Vermont. After serving in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II, he attended the University of Vermont and was a reporter for seven years at Vermont newspapers.
He entered politics in 1955 as secretary of civil and military affairs under Gov. Joseph Johnson, R-Vermont., and later as Vermont’s budget director.
He was active in several invitation-only congressional Republican organizations. A former Alexandria resident, he moved to Arlington, Vermont, in 1990 and became involved in civic organizations.
Survivors include his wife of 65 years, Marilyn Mills Houston of Arlington, Vermont; six children, Deborah Houston of New Braintree, Massachusetts, Rebecca Moore of Arlington, Vermont, Laura Stewart of Napa, California, Neal Houston Jr. of Rutland, Vermont, Virginia Lima of Scituate, Massachusetts, and Alison Ryan of West Rupert, Vermont; a sister; and 11 grandchildren.
On Stafford’s farewell address to constituents in 1988, he recognized Houston’s efforts. “He has been my partner working in your behalf all the Washington years,” said Stafford, who died in 2006. “Whatever we have accomplished, much credit should go to him.”