Mary and Coley Howell were with the Lampasas and Copperas Cove school districts for a number of years. It began with a cough he could not shake.

Up until then, Coley Howell's health had been excellent. No high blood pressure. No diabetes.

But the persistent cough convinced him in the spring of 2008 to seek medical advice. He was told to try a different cough suppressant.

Still, the condition persisted.

When a doctor ordered X-rays last December, there were masses on Howell's right lung, along with a knot behind his right collarbone.

The longtime educator was diagnosed with "nonsmall cell lung cancer," a slower-growing variety. The former Lampasas High School biology, physical science and physics teacher was told his cancer was Stage 4, however -- meaning it had spread.

"They really don't know what sets it off," said Howell, a non-smoker. Fifteen percent of lung cancer victims are non-smokers, he said.

I was one of Coley Howell's biology students at Lampasas High School. He was a good teacher, and the lab portions of the class were particularly interesting. Through dissecting projects, students gained an appreciation for anatomy, as well as "how to compare systems," Howell noted.

Jim Lowe is editor and publisher of the Lampasas Dispatch Record. While here, Coley also organized a junior engineering technical society, to encourage students to go into science and engineering.

After 12 years in Lampasas, he accepted a position with the Evant school district, where he served for a couple of years as principal and science teacher.

Today, he and his wife, Mary, are retired. She was a school librarian in Lampasas and Copperas Cove and taught other subjects after the Howells left the Lampasas Independent School District.

Coley held a number of posts with the Copperas Cove ISD: biology teacher, counselor and longtime principal. He retired in 2003. For a year or so, he worked around the house and at his family's ranch between Adamsville and Evant.

"He failed retirement -- more than once," Mary said. He was talked out of retirement once to head Copperas Cove's career and technology program.

The Howells have two grown children: John-Louis, an Air Force major and pilot at Seymour Johnson AFB in North Carolina, and Dee Dee, a kindergarten teacher in New Braunfels.

Since her husband's diagnosis, Mary Howell has maintained a blog on www.carepages.com that gives regular updates to family and friends. About 200 people are members of the blog, and former students and peers are encouraged to join, as well.

Howell's treatment began with chemotherapy: four sessions three weeks apart at Metroplex Hospital, through the Scott & White Cancer Center there. He credits relaxation therapy -- breathing techniques -- and medication to settle his stomach with helping prevent the nausea that sometimes accompanies chemotherapy.

He now is participating in a double-blind clinical trial through Scott & White, in cooperation with the M.D. Anderson cancer institute in Houston. Even one's physician does not know what kind of pills you are taking until side effects show up, or tumors shrink, Howell explained.

"So far, the tumors are decreasing in size," he said.

Just like he was in my biology class several decades ago, Coley is facing his medical circumstances calmly.

He continues to check on his commercial cattle herd -- a mixed-breed, Angus and Brangus cow-calf operation. "I've been trying to get rid of some cedar, so some of the grass can grow," he also notes.

"That's a worthy goal," a reporter comments.

"It's a never-ending goal," Coley says with a laugh.

He "thoroughly enjoyed" working with students at Lampasas High School, he said. He wonders aloud how he and those in his class made it through hot Texas weather without the air-conditioning now enjoyed at the campus.

Of his former students, he said, "It was great to see a lot of them go on to become productive citizens." While in Copperas Cove, on several occasions, he taught the second and third generations of students he had in Lampasas.

Having given out his share of assignments in the classroom, Coley now is handling his own most difficult test, with dignity and serenity.

He and his wife are resting in the power of science, but also in God's provision, Mary said.

"We make plans, but we let God make the major ones," Coley said. A smile comes to his face.

"He makes quite a few."