WCC Remembers Eleanor McGovern

 

Eleanor McGovern, wife of former US Senator and presidential
candidate George McGovern, died on January 25th of heart failure,
at the age of 85.  The ecumenical community mourned her passing,
and remembered her as a woman of faith and extraordinary
passion.

Generally overlooked in public reflections on Mrs. McGovern's
life was her connection with the ecumenical movement.  Theodore
Gill, Senior Editor with WCC Communications, recalled the
McGoverns' involvement with the WCC.  "I first met Eleanor
McGovern and her husband as they were registering at the Fourth
Assembly of the WCC in Uppsala. George McGovern was a delegate
from the United Methodist Church, and I was the steward assigned
to escort them to their dormitory room," Gill said, and went on
to ask, "How many of the current presidential candidates would
let the WCC house them in a university dormitory room?"

National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA General
Secretary Robert Edgar's tribute to Mrs. McGovern is online at
www.ncccusa.org.

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