Review
Dr. Kevin Starr, California State Librarian writes:"In telling the story of Father John J. Crowley, you have made available to a wider audience a remarkable life which is of great significance to the heritage of this state. It is a beautifully written, thoroughly researched book about a highly engaging spiritually developed and passionately committed Californian. Very few clergy have lakes dedicated in their name. Having perused your book I can see why today Californians have designated Lake Crowley in honor of this significant man. Congratulations on a job well done. -- Publisher Comments
John Crowley was born in the Killarney Lakes area of Ireland, half a world away from east-central California where he later became known as the Desert Padre. A graduate of Holy Cross in Mass., Crowley entered the old St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore in 1915 and was ordained 3 years later. He began his pastorate in the expansive Owens Valley, which lies in the shadow of California's Eastern Sierra Nevada mountains. In one 14 month period, Father Crowley traveled more than 50,000 miles to deliver regular masses in towns like Death Valley, Lone Pine, Darwin, and Barstow. He also served as chaplain to the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) of the New Deal era, a program that took impoverished, unemployed young men and put them to work building aqueducts, bridges, roads, and campgrounds. A writer and poet, Father (actually Monsignor) Crowley penned more than 200 columns entitled "Sage and Tumbleweed," that appeared in the Monterey-Fresno Catholic publication, The Central California Register. According to Joan Brooks, author and former publisher of American Desert magazine, Crowley's readership eagerly anticipated his regular columns in this diocesan newspaper. Brooks provides a robust, multidimensional image of this Desert Padre, whose evident compassion and human dedication were cut short by a tragic accident on a lonely road near Mojave, Calif. in March, 1940. He was on his way to perform morning mass. The Saturday Evening Post, in a story entitled "Desert Padre" that ran in 1944, helped keep the memory of John J. Crowley alive. And in her carefully documented and indexed book, Brooks has done this amicable inspirer of souls a service as well. -- From Independent Publisher
John Crowley was born in the Killarney Lakes area of Ireland, half a world away from east-central California where he later became known as the Desert Padre. A graduate of Holy Cross in Mass., Crowley entered the old St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore in 1915 and was ordained 3 years later. He began his pastorate in the expansive Owens Valley, which lies in the shadow of California's Eastern Sierra Nevada mountains. In one 14 month period, Father Crowley traveled more than 50,000 miles to deliver regular masses in towns like Death Valley, Lone Pine, Darwin, and Barstow. He also served as chaplain to the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) of the New Deal era, a program that took impoverished, unemployed young men and put them to work building aqueducts, bridges, roads, and campgrounds. A writer and poet, Father (actually Monsignor) Crowley penned more than 200 columns entitled "Sage and Tumbleweed," that appeared in the Monterey-Fresno Catholic publication, The Central California Register. According to Joan Brooks, author and former publisher of American Desert magazine, Crowley's readership eagerly anticipated his regular columns in this diocesan newspaper. Brooks provides a robust, multidimensional image of this Desert Padre, whose evident compassion and human dedication were cut short by a tragic accident on a lonely road near Mojave, Calif. in March, 1940. He was on his way to perform morning mass. The Saturday Evening Post, in a story entitled "Desert Padre" that ran in 1944, helped keep the memory of John J. Crowley alive. And in her carefully documented and indexed book, Brooks has done this amicable inspirer of souls a service as well. -- From Independent Publisher
Product Description
Inspiring and entertaining biography of a civic and spiritual leader who served in California's Owens Valley and Death Valley. He also served as chaplain to the CCC boys during the depression years and worked with other civic leaders to win concessions from the Los Angeles Dept of Water and Power, thus giving the residents hope and economic prosperity, especially in the area of tourism. His newspaper columns,"Sage and Tumbleweed written under a pen name of Inyokel were widely read and covered topics of interest to the local area, e.g. Death Valley stories, desert driving, descriptions of the desert environment, vignettes from the filming of westerns in the Alabama Hills in Lone Pine and many local events. The Padre is now memorialized by Crowley Lake in Mono County and by monuments at the site of his death in 1940 and a monument on the road to Death Valley.
