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Homerites reflect on cherished community member Brother Asaiah Bates

"Brother Asaiah," by Cheri Govertsen Greer, Private Collection/City of Homer
Hope McKenney
/
KBBI
"Brother Asaiah," by Cheri Govertsen Greer, Private Collection/City of Homer

Feb. 14 is Brother Asaiah Bates Day in Homer. The day marks an opportunity to celebrate the philosophy of the longtime Homerite, city council member and preacher of respect and tolerance who died 23 years ago at the age of 78.

Brother Asaiah was born Claude Bates in South Carolina in 1921. He served in World War II before coming to Kachemak Bay in the ‘50s to join a religious commune. He quickly grew to become a beloved member of the Homer community.

And on Valentine’s Day 2000, the City of Homer recognized its first Brother Asaiah Day. Then-mayor Jack Cushing said it was a day meant to recognize Asaiah’s “deep love for everyone and everything.” And that passion for the community Cushing described still resonates with locals today.

“He was an institution. Everyone in Homer knew Asaiah,” said Brad Hughes, a Homer artist and friend of Brother Asaiah. “His role in life was to bridge, mediate and to seek peace and understanding.”

“It didn't matter who you were, you were either ‘sister’ or ‘brother’ to him,” Mayor Ken Castner said. “He was well respected, if not loved, and just a person that kind of emanated peace and harmony.”

After fighting in World War II, Brother Asaiah became devoted to peace.

Journalist and historian Tom Kizzia said Brother Asaiah objected to the placement of a war memorial in Wisdom, Knowledge, Faith and Love Park, which Asaiah donated to the city.

“As a World War II veteran of the most serious kind, he was hugely supportive of the veterans, and yet he didn't want to have a veteran’s war memorial in his place dedicated to peace. That was kind of his new perspective on the world,” Kizzia said. “I remember talking to him, and he burst into tears over the anxiety he was feeling over that conflict. I think I was surprised at the turmoil that remained in his heart over the things he'd seen in the war, and it made me realize that being Brother Asaiah was a big job for him. And I admired him all the more for it.”

Brother Asaiah was an active member of Homer’s community. He attended a different local church each Sunday, wrote numerous letters to the editor in the Homer News, spoke up at nearly every city council meeting and served as a councilmember during the 1970s.

Local artist and friend Hughes described Brother Asaiah as a calm and moderating voice on the council during a time when there was sharp divide between the older homesteaders of the ‘40s and ‘50s and the arrival of a new freethinking group of hippies.

“Asaiah was the guy who was respected by most of the community and served as a liaison between the longhairs and fishermen and towns folks,” Hughes said. “He was always advocating for peaceful solutions.”

Castner, who moved to Homer in 1973, just as Brother Asaiah was elected to the Homer City Council, said having a day named in Brother Asaiah’s honor cements him in the community’s culture and memory.

“I think that if Asaiah is looking down at the city that he loved, that he'd be kind of happy with how people are getting along,” Castner said. “[It’s] probably a more tolerant town than we've had from time to time. We've suffered through all of those anxieties of intolerance. Hopefully, he would consider it to be a more tolerant and loving town. I certainly think it has become more that way.”

Ken Landfield, an active member of Pier One Theatre for the past four decades and a friend of Brother Asaiah, said Asaiah was the best neighbor in the world.

“I'd be hard pressed to come up with anyone who didn't like him. And that's a rare individual,” he said. “He was a good mediator. He could find compromise where compromise was not obvious. Hardly ever missed a city council meeting. There was rarely a Homer News that came out without a letter from Brother Asaiah. [He’s] close as we're ever going to get to a patron saint. But, like all humans, [he was] more complicated than you might think. But ultimately just a super guy, just a super guy.”

With so much lasting admiration for Brother Asaiah and his commitment to love, it seems Homer’s city leaders picked the perfect holiday to celebrate the former community member.

In 2019, Hope moved to Unalaska/Dutch Harbor to work for Alaska's Energy Desk and KUCB — the westernmost public radio newsroom in the country. She has lived, worked and filed stories from California, New York, Bolivia, Peru, Cuba and Alaska.
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