Vincent H. Gowen - Memoirs, Christian Spirituality
Most residents of Bainbridge have heard of Father Vincent Gowen (1893-1984), the respected Bainbridge educator and vicar of St. Barnabas Church. Fr. Gowen's sermons at St. Barnabas were renown for their clarity and thought-provoking nature and, some years after his death, a collection of his sermons was published in
Follow Me: On Becoming An Active Christian (1992). During his lifetime, Fr. Gowen also published two books in which he reflects on his life prior to coming to Bainbridge.
Sun and Moon (1927), and
Village on the Yangtze (1975) describe his experiences while doing missionary work in Asia. His life as a missionary and teacher was again captured in
Sunrise to Sunrise: Vincent Gowen’s Memoirs (2008), a recent book edited by Gowen's children,
Anne Combs Gowen and Geoffrey Gowen. The book is based on Fr. Gowen's extensive manuscripts and journals and takes readers on an adventurous journey to pre-Maoist China, to life in the isolated mountains of the northern Phillipines, as well as the internment of Fr. Gowen and his family during World War II. Fellow author Donald E. Mansell has this to say about
Sunrise to Sunrise: " A book replete with gripping episodes from the life of a master storyteller... laying it aside until I read the last page was out of the question."
