Marvin Nelson Bowers

Father Marvin Nelson Bowers, an Episcopal priest who spent most of his fifty- year priesthood as Rector of Saint Paul's Episcopal Church in Healdsburg, died Tuesday, April 15, 2025, at 80 years old, quietly in his home in Los Angeles, surrounded by his loving family.

He retired from his pastorate in 2006, leaving a legacy of community-building that continues to this day. His good works include: hot meals and food programs for the hungry, housing and homeless outreach, medical clinics for rural poor, Christmas clothing and food baskets, counseling, twelve-step programs, and a Spanish language congregation at St. Paul's that continued for 12 years after he retired.

Father Bowers began his community building in Healdsburg by making friends with Monsignor John "Jack" O'Hare at St. John's Catholic Church. Pastor Bill Hayes of the Federated Church (now Healdsburg Community Church) joined them, forming as a weekly ecumenical lunch from which sprang social services. North County Community Services (NCCS), now Reach for Home, began when Marvin found unhoused folks sleeping in the pews. He made the church bathroom into a four-bed emergency shelter. Years later, a rehabbed abandoned house and grounds next door became 11 housing units. Marvin heard of workers who had no food on weekends so he started the Sunday meal. Ten churches now use St Paul's to prepare and serve the meals to 50-100 people per week. Father Bowers would drive his old blue truck to pick up day-old bread from Safeway and have lunch with the farmworkers camped under the Alexander Valley Bridge. Doctors in Healdsburg volunteered Tuesday nights to see patients at $1 per visit (waived for need) starting a medical clinic to fill growing needs. When volunteer bookkeepers proved inadequate for the burgeoning service, Marvin brought a parishioner, retired business CEO Max Dunn who forged it into Alliance Medical, building a powerful medical clinic serving the rural poor. In the late 1980s Bishop John Lester Thompson heard of this vibrant work and visited St. Paul's. Impressed with his outreach to the Latinx community, he told Marvin he had to feed souls as well as bodies. He sent Marvin and Bonnie to Cuernavaca for a month of intensive Spanish, and a Spanish service sprouted.

Marvin married his high school sweetheart Bonnie, and they had five children: Sarah in 1969, Mary Agnes in 1971, Madeline in 1973, Arthur in 1976 and Clare in 1978. Arthur died in 2021.

In 2020 Marvin and Bonnie moved to the Eagle Rock neighborhood to be near their daughter Mary Agnes Ablaza's family. He was thrilled to serve as an Associate Priest at St Mark's Glendale, where Mary Agnes remains a pillar. He is survived by his loving wife, Bonnie, four children and nine grandchildren. There will be a memorial service at St Paul's, on Saturday, July 12, 2025, at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 209 Matheson Street, Healdsburg, CA 95448, at 1 PM, with a reception to follow.

Published in Healdsburg Tribune · June 27, 2025