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In Appreciation: Ted Bowen
By Harry C. Kiely
Stashed away among my treasured artifacts is a photo clipped from the Washington Post. It shows a group of about 15 people seated on the sidewalk in front of the White House, waiting to be arrested for protesting U.S. nuclear policy. However, one member of the group is standing because back trouble made sitting difficult for him.
The standing protester was Theodore Roosevelt Bowen. The year was 1984 and Ted had recently retired from active pastoral ministry in the Baltimore-Washington Conference. He said he wanted to make at least one more social justice witness while his body would permit it. I was among the protesters, and we had decided it would be a privilege to go to jail together for the sake of a more peaceable kingdom.
This was a man whose 33 years in the active pastoral ministry was studded with a rich variety of gifts and graces. Eloquent preacher, gifted pastor, excellent teacher, creative executive, published writer, social justice activist all these qualities combined in Ted to make him a model for other pastors.
When I first heard Ted preach in the early 60s, I knew I had not heard such eloquence since my seminary days. He was literate, lucid and a powerhouse in the pulpit. In that sermon he used Jonah as his text as he confronted the all-white churches of the conference for abandoning the cities. He likened the church to Jonah, fleeing from God. He inserted enough humor to help us laugh at ourselves, but we knew his message was on target and painfully true.
Ted practiced what he preached, becoming pastor of Calvary Church at 16th and Columbia Road in Washington, which he led into a serious ministry to one of the Districts poorest neighborhoods. That church eventually took on a ministry to Latinos, calling itself Casa del Pueblo UMC. In 1965 Ted followed Martin Luther King Jr. in the historic Selma to Montgomery march, an event that enabled the passage of the historic voting rights bill.
In 1968 I was arrested along with 39 welfare mothers and two Catholic priests for participating in a non-violent civil disobedience action on Capitol Hill. When my wife, Arlene, called Ted (who was my District Superintendent) at 2 a.m. to inform him of the arrest, Ted was totally affirming: Good for him! Im proud of him. Ill make a pastoral call first thing tomorrow. At 7 a.m. Ted showed up at the jail, offering his encouragement and volunteering to find a lawyer for me.
Ted died at age 83 this past October. His wife Lee had preceded him in death in 1992. Their three surviving daughters (one died in 2000), nine grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren have reason to be proud of the great heritage passed on to them by Ted and Lee.
The Rev. Harry C. Kiely is a retired member of the Baltimore-Washington Conference. He may be reached at
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