William Francis McGee explored life's mysteries and pleasures through poetry, photography and religion. A social justice activist, he was a veteran bicyclist and long-distance runner who was known for bringing cheer and home-baked bread to friends suffering ill health or difficult times.
The former Santa Rose Junior College instructor died Sunday in a bicycle accident. He was 79.
McGee, known to friends and family as Bill, was born Feb 15, 1925, in Marquette, Mich. His father, a train engineer, died when McGee was 4, and at the age of 10, McGee took a bakery job to help support his family -- acquiring what would become a signature passion.
"Baking was an art to him," said his wife, Alice Waco.
McGee baked on a Wedgewood gas range and would, unfailingly and often by bicycle, deliver warm loaves, along with homemade soups and poetry he'd written, to friends needing sustenance.
For his own sustenance, he turned often to the arts, poetry in particular -- which he read nightly and wrote daily, wherever he was.
"It's the essence of Bill McGee," Waco said of his poetry, "I think because he was able to express the mystery of life through it."
With twinkling eyes and a broad smile, McGee carved his own way through life, following his instincts, enthusiasms and passions with a full-hearted glee that drew others to him.
"He represented to me what a whole human being should be. He had expertise in different fields, humor, he loved people and he shared himself.
He was a real model to me," said Robert Manning, who met McGee through the Sonoma County Peace and Justice Center.
Deeply drawn to life's spiritual dimensions, he applied to the seminary soon after graduating high school in 1942. Rejected because of his poor grades, he attended school in Ontario, Canada, where he studied Latin and philosophy and "found out how much he loved learning," Waco said.
He went on to attend seminary in Milwaukee, Wis., and was ordained a Catholic priest in 1956. Much of his priesthood was spent at the University of Michigan, in Houghton, where he founded the school's Newman Center. The centers serve Catholic students at public universities.
Growing restless, he attended UC Berkeley on a Fulbright theology fellowship in the late 1960s, and in 1972 joined St. Benedict's Deaf Center, in San Francisco, as a resident priest.
Alice Waco was a nun at the center, and, like McGee, was growing away from the church. She and some other nuns asked permission to rent a house rather than live in the convent, and were permitted to on the condition that a priest visited daily for Mass.
"So we found Bill McGee," she said.
The couple married in Santa Rosa in 1974 and McGee began teaching Latin at SRJC.
"The students, it was a small group, but they were almost like followers, really excited about being there with him," said Ken Bubb, who heads the college's Latin program, and recalled that McGee would sing chants in Latin to his class.
McGee also earned a master's degree in alcohol studies in 1978 from a joint program of UC Berkeley and the Pacific School of Religion, and worked as a substance abuse counselor at the Orenda Center in Santa Rosa.
He also coordinated the DUI counseling program at SRJC until retiring in 1992.
Throughout, he fostered talents in poetry and photography -- he bought his first camera in 1978 -- often combining the two arts in cards and letters he penned daily for a worldwide network of friends and family.
On a card containing a close-up photograph of a pincherry flower, he once wrote to Waco: "I love you. Alice Loves Bill. We know that. Now practice."
"Soul mate. That's who Bill is to me," Waco said.
McGee was predeceased by a sister, Mary Ann Horal. In addition to his wife, he is survived by brothers Jim McGee of Marquette, Mich., and Chuck McGee of Green Bay, Wis.; and sisters Alice Tyler of Albuquerque, N.M., and Pat Ley of De Pere, Wis.
Memorial services will be at 11 a.m. March 11 at St. Leo the Great Church, 601 W. Agua Caliente Road, Sonoma.
A celebration of life is to follow at 1 p.m. at the East Recreation Center, Oakmont Boulevard, Oakmont.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Friends of Cantera (Nicaragua), 918 Benton St., Santa Rosa 95404; or the Peace and Justice Center, 457 Sebastopol Ave., Santa Rosa 95401.