“The only thing I’m interested in is starting a college for peace.” A conversation with Father Jim Gower
Photograph by Noreen Hogan ’91.
Lunchtime at Take-a-Break, you’re talking about what you did on the weekend; suddenly, a slip of paper appears on your table. There’s a peace meeting over at some nearby church. You look up, but Father Jim Gower is already in deep conversation at the next table. About peace, of course. In COA’s ongoing dialog with its founders, Father Jim recalls a bit of how College of the Atlantic came to be. ~ Donna Gold
Donna Gold: Before we talk about launching College of the Atlantic, tell me about your background. Is your family from Maine?
Father Jim Gower: Oh yes. My grandfather was born in Robbinston, right near Calais. My dad was Charles Prescott. He was a carpenter, but he was into everything that Bar Harbor was into, the arts, painting, music. Even as a child, I was hearing great singers on our wind-up gramophone. He went to the eighth grade, but he played the violin, the mandolin—self-taught. He was a great guy. My mother emigrated from Ireland to work as a nanny in the summer cottages. Mom sang lullabies and folk songs of Ireland and murmured quiet prayers constantly. There were five kids in our family, my sister Eileen was first and I was second, born in 1922. Lots of humor in the house. Humor and prayer. 34 | COA
DG: You were born just before the Depression— JG: The Depression had a big effect on our family. My sister Eileen would find a job, then encourage me to take it. I made fifteen cents a week going down to the post office six nights a week to wait for The Bangor Daily Commercial and bring it to Doc York’s drugstore on School Street. In 1940, I went to college, then I served in World War II and saw such terrible poverty and devastation. DG: You went to Notre Dame for college? JG: Yes. And with an A.B. in philosophy I went to Georgetown Law School with the idea of going into politics. I thought, there’s got to be more justice. There’s got to be more sharing and dialogue for those who don’t have. But law school was more adversarial than it was negotiative. It was who’s