e-HUM Bishop -- September 2003

Words from the Bishop

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The passing of a good, kind and gentle man

It hasn't happened since 1891that a Governor of the State of Indiana has died while in office. There is something about a death "while" serving! Every death has its uniqueness -- its own pain. But the death of one in office -- serving a church, state, city or nation -- somehow brings a larger measure to that death.

Perhaps such a response to this "special" death is the corporate nature of it. The grief is shared more broadly than the death of a common citizen. The whole community grieves not just a family and friends.

Governor Frank O'Bannon is dead! The words are ominous. Somehow they seem surreal. Wrong! Inaccurate! But they were heard and read by Hoosiers across the state. Indeed across the nation and world. Each response was different but there was a common consequence -- loss. Everyone loss Saturday morning -- spouse, son, daughter, grandchildren, family, friends, stranger, colleagues, adversaries, Democrats, Republicans. People of different faiths or no faith, of all races and ethnic groups.

John Donne wrote, "Any man's death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind;" I feel diminished today! Something is missing that I had grown accustomed to -- dependent upon -- took for granted. Now, no more.

Governor Frank O'Bannon was an extraordinary man. Perhaps because he was so ordinary.

I spoke to him a few weeks ago about an event that both he and I were to address. He called, not his staff, not his secretary, to clarify his assignment, the context, and the occasion. Following the conversation I paused, as I have always done after talking to the Governor whether in church, his office, or at a public gathering - with renewed profound respect for this utterly, genuinely humble man. "I've just spoken to the Governor," I thought. Yet there was nothing to suggest that I had just spoken to the most important public figure in the State of Indiana. He was ordinary, so down to earth.

In a day of 60-second sound bites, the manufactured image, the hair and dress consultants, and other image makers of public figures, Frank O'Bannon was so true to himself -- and to his principles. No glitz! No double talk! Not given to the easy answer meant to please but not the truth.

Sadly, public figures, politicians and politics have often been given a bad name -- caricatured and demeaned. Sometimes as a result of the unprincipled behavior of those who violated this sacred trust. But politics is a sacred calling, because its ultimate end is the caring of people; promoting the general welfare, and especially attending to the needs of those in the citizenry less strong, less able to fully care for themselves.

We have lost a public servant in our late Governor who was an example of what public service is intended to be. While Frank O'Bannon spent more than three decades in government, somehow one knew he was not the consummate politician. He was more.

A faithful United Methodist, he was as comfortable singing in the choir as sitting in the pew. He seemed to relish anonymity. He so easily meshed into a crowd, if you did not know he was the Governor of the state, you could easily miss him. He required no public acknowledgement of his presence. It's called humility.

Yet, he had those issues to which he was committed - passionate in a dispassionate manner. Principles undergirded his politics!

What a good, kind and gentle man was our Governor. We are the better and the richer because he touched our lives in so many different ways. So through our tears, sense of loss and grief, we thank God for the life and witness of Frank O'Bannon. And I believe on Saturday morning, September 13, 2003, at 11:33 a.m., God whispered to Frank O'Bannon, "Well done, my good and faithful servant."

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