John Bowers

Born in the Arkansas Ozarks, John Bowers came to California at the age of two. His parents had no job prospects, but as lifelong farmers, found work as migrant labor in the San Joaquin Valley (in the 1950s, most of California’s migrant labor was done by “Arkies” and “Okies”, many of whom had come West during the Great Depression). Some of his earliest memories include sitting on a pallet under a grape vine or shade tree playing with toy trucks while his parents harvested grapes or picked cotton. \n\nBy the time Bowers started school, his dad had found work on a turkey ranch, and continued to work in turkeys for the next 15 years, moving from one job to another almost every year. From first grade until his senior year in high school, Bowers attended ten different schools, including three high schools. “We moved almost every year,” he recalls, “usually in the dead of winter” (when agriculture was dormant). As a result, Bowers remembers lots of people, but few of them remember him: “I simply wasn’t there long enough to be remembered.” \n\n When he was four years old, Bowers’ mother began studying with what later proved to be a religious cult. She didn’t actually join the cult for several years, but Bowers lived under its influence from an early age. By the time they started attending “church”, Bowers was also convinced it was the true religion. “My mom said she had proved it,” he says today. “Mom was the smartest person I knew, so I believed her.”\n\nForty years later, when Bowers saw evidence the organization was corrupt, his eyes were opened and he made his escape. “Unfortunately, I had subjected my own kids to several years of cult indoctrination,” he says, “but I think we got out early enough for them to have a somewhat normal life.” Today, neither Bowers nor his children are involved in religion. “I spent forty years in the wilderness,” he laughs. “I think I’ve paid my dues.”\n\nBowers discovered a love for writing in 7th grade. In high school his English teachers considered him a prodigy, expecting him to become a great success as a novelist. But the “church” had other ideas, and went to great lengths to squelch his talent. “They called it vanity,” he says. “I defied them for a while, but you can’t fight against God forever, and I finally stuck a pin in it.” But he never gave up the dream, and at age 44, when he finally seized his freedom, he started writing again. He now has 16 novels on Amazon, and in spite of the wasted years, he swears he is only getting started.\nBowers still lives in Central California, and hasn’t moved for 28 years. As for his cult experience, he has this to say (with apologies to the United States Marines who served on Guadalcanal):\n\n“And when he gets to Heaven,\n“To St. Peter he will tell:\n“‘Another cult member reporting, sir…\n“I’ve served my time in Hell.’”\n\n