A McGovern sticker

In 1972 my wife Bonnie and I came to Healdsburg from Calistoga, where I had been the Vicar of St. Luke’s Church. Many churches now have a fairly extensive series of profiles and interviews prior to calling a priest. In 1972, the move was made based on two phone calls from the Bishop, one to me and the other to the Senior Warden of St. Paul’s. When I met the leaders of St Paul’s for the first time it was an accomplished fact that I was their new priest. Neither Bonnie nor I was yet 30 years old and we had a McGovern for President sticker on the bumper of our old Chevy sedan.
George McGovern died recently, and there have been a host of articles and commentaries about the man who became the moral conscience of the Democratic party, and, one might say, of the nation. I believed that in 1972, and I believe it now. His two great passions were ending the war in Vietnam, and meeting the needs of the poor and hungry at home and around the world. Richard Nixon defeated George McGovern in a landslide.
Healdsburg was a different town in 1972. There was a lovely plaza surrounded by shops and stores and bars that catered to locals: the Plaza Market, Plasburg Liquor, the Guadalajara, Garrett’s Hardware, Fred Young Mortuary, the nearly defunct Plaza Hotel, the Brass Rail, The Office Cafe, the Bank of America, John and Zeke’s, General Drug, Wainscott’s Stationery, and just a block north on the Avenue the Artic (sic) Circle. It was not a town any tourist would visit. Agriculture was dominated not by grapes but by prunes. There was a Sunsweet prune dehydrator on the south side of town. The Prune Blossom Festival was the big event of the year in the Alexander Valley. Memorial Beach had a platform with a high dive and teenaged boys frequently jumped off the bridge. I grew up in Napa, and when I was in high school, Healdsburg had the reputation of being a bit of a redneck town where fights after football games were not a rarity. Fights in the Plaza on weekend nights after the bars closed were also fairly common.
In 1972 there were not a lot of McGovern bumper stickers to be seen in Healdsburg. It’s possible that the one on our car was the only one in town. Most of the members of St. Paul’s Church were as old or older than my parents. They were good people, and as years passed and we came to know each other I recognized their many moral and spiritual strengths and gifts. At the same time, some of them believed that George McGovern was not a loyal American. In spite of his heroic military service, his experience as a Methodist minister, and his obvious passion for peace and for the poor, the fact that he did not support the war in Vietnam made him anathema. This was particularly true of some veterans who had served in World War II, of whom there were many in the community and in the church. Within months, maybe weeks, of my arrival, several families stopped attending St. Paul’s. Letters were written to the Bishop, one of which described me as a Communist sympathizer. Arnold Santucci, who was the publisher of the Tribune at that time, and who was and is a cherished friend, told me years later that he didn’t think I’d last two years in Healdsburg — if that.
I served at St. Paul’s for just short of 35 years. One of the blessings of a long tenure is that there is time for healing. Several of the people who left St. Paul’s returned, often at times of pastoral need. A couple of the World War II veterans had long talk with me as they approached the end of their lives. They said they still disagreed with me about a lot of things and that it really hurt them that I was so young and seemed not to respect what they had been through. I apologized. But, they said, you stayed here and you did some good things and I respect you for that. I cherish their words and their memories.
So here we are, 40 years later on the eve of another Presidential election. Bonnie has put an Obama sticker on the bumper of our car. We are both Democrats, but Bonnie is a much more enthusiastic Democrat than I. Since our retirements Bonnie and I have spent two or three months a year in Peru as volunteers with the Anglican Church. On a recent visit to Lima, an American Bishop who is interested in supporting our ministry took me out to dinner. He wanted to get to know me a bit better. At one point it seemed appropriate to tell him that I’m a Democrat. I’m a pro-life, pro-traditional marriage and family Democrat. The Bishop said, “That must be very difficult.” I said, “It’s heart breaking.” But, heart breaking or no, on November 6th, I will read the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, and say the prayer for the nation in the Book of Common Prayer. Then I will ride my bike to City Hall, get my ballot, and there, with my fellow Americans, exercise my sacred privilege and duty. I will vote.
Canon Marvin Bowers is a retired clergyman and may be reached at

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