He was an acclaimed UC Santa Barbara professor, community leader, father and husband, and for a brief time, a Congressman representing much of the Tri-Counties.
Many people now know his name because of UCSB’s Walter Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion, and Public Life, named in his honor. But most people today don’t know much about the center’s namesake.
A new documentary premiering this week tells his story. The documentary is called A Tribute to Walter Capps: Scholar, Teacher, Public Servant.
"Walter Capps was a professor of religious studies at UC Santa Barbara from 1964 to 1996. He was one of the department's first four faculty members. Later, his interests turned to psychology and religion, Native American religions, and the Vietnam War," said Dusty Hoesly, who is Associate Director of the Capps Center.
He said Capps taught the class on the Vietnam War because it was the most popular at UCSB. It was featured in a 60 Minutes news magazine segment.
The professor’s interest in democracy opened the door to politics.
"It led him in 1994 to run for Congress. He lost that race, but it was very close. He ran again in 1996, and won that seat. He held it from January of 1997 to his death in October."
The Democratic congressman died from a heart attack after only nine months in office. About 30 members of Congress flew to Santa Barbara for his memorial, and Reverend Jesse Jackson was among those who spoke at the services.
His wife, Lois Capps, picked up the ball, finished his congressional term, and then served for nearly two decades representing the region.
"It should be people from around the community who step up for a time, and take their turn creating the government that is our democracy," said Capps.
In the early 2000s, the community, Congress, the UC system, and the National Endowment for the Humanities came together to raise money to create an education center in his name.
What started as a few video clips of Walter Capps, filmed a few years ago to be shown at center events, evolved into a decision to commission a documentary about its namesake.
"It's very emotional for all of us, and our families," said Lois Capps.
She said Walter would be proud of what the center does to educate students and the community. She thinks if he were alive today, he’d still be involved in politics.
"The man behind it as a marker to point the way that we want this experiment in government to continue. It belongs to the people," said Capps.
The Capps Center is hosting an online premiere of the documentary Wednesday night (10/21) at 6 p.m. It will be followed by a live discussion with Lois Capps, Laura Capps, one of Walter’s daughters and a Santa Barbara County Supervisor, and others involved in creating the documentary.
