Milton “Milt” Rice

Milton Rice Jr. left this world on November 25, 2020, at the respected age of 76. He devoted his life to physical education, offering his services to Fairhaven High School and Barnstable High School in Massachusetts for over 26 years.

He attended Springfield College and furthered his education at Northeastern University with a Master of Science degree in sports medicine. With early signs of a love for sports, he spent several of his younger years working one of the coolest jobs in the world—a lifeguard.

Milton is loved and will be missed by the many friends, students, and family members whose lives he had touched. In the guestbook of his obituary, Ed Scipione wrote that he had reconnected with his former physical education teacher in recent years. “I enjoyed conversing with him about sports, life on life's terms and current events,” Ed wrote. “Mr. Rice was a very insightful, intelligent and helpful friend.” A lifelong teacher is a blessing indeed.

Unfortunately, Milton was unable to spend his last days among his loved ones due to a Massachusetts policy designed to keep individuals incarcerated for as long as possible while minimizing DOC responsibility for deaths in custody. Even though Milton applied for medical parole at the onset of the pandemic, his request was only granted on November 24th, after he had contracted COVID-19 and was placed on life support at the local hospital. Milton passed away after being paroled for less than a day, his death unreported in the state’s correctional records. 

Milton is survived by two brothers and three children, all of whom will be commemorating his life at a private service during spring 2021. May he rest in peace.

This memorial was written by MOL team member Ladrina Johnson with information from an article by Deborah Becker and an obituary from Watson Funeral Chapel. Transcribed by Mirilla Zhu.

Note: Since the writing of this memorial, the Massachusetts DOC has changed its medical parole reporting procedures and will include COVID-19 deaths of medically paroled individuals in reports to state courts.