Longtime city councilor David Bownes dies

LACONIA — City Councilor David Bownes, who appeared in community theater and sometimes brought a sense of the comic or dramatic to local meetings, has died at his home. He was 71.

Bownes, an advocate for the renovation of the historic Colonial Theater and downtown revitalization in general, died Friday, Mayor Andrew Hosmer confirmed.

“He was a good guy, a good public servant, a real joy to work with and I really liked him,” Hosmer said.

Bownes had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Former Mayor Ed Engler said he appreciated Bownes’s sense of humor in the six years they served together.

“He was fun,” Engler said. “He wasn’t afraid to laugh at himself and that’s something of a rare trait.”

Engler would engage in good-natured teasing of Bownes and both would end up smiling or chuckling in a bit of comic relief during long drawn-out sessions.

Bownes voted his conscience, even if nobody agreed.

“He voted the way he wanted to vote, and if it was 5-1, so be it,” Engler said. 

He recalled Bownes making an impassioned plea to build a parking garage in the City Hall parking lot. Bownes called the present municipal garage "an abomination" and once said it was not worth another nickel of public investment.

His idea to build a new one did not win the day, but it wasn’t for lack of trying.

“He was literally begging the council, which did not come around to his point of view,” Engler said. 

Another time, Bownes described as “draconian” Engler's plan for short-term rentals in the city.  

“That became a password between us, an in-joke,” Engler said. “People chuckled when they heard the word.

“He will be missed. He was quite a character.”

Bruce Cheney, the Ward 1 city councilor, who sat next to Bownes at the council table, said the two men did not share the same political views but enjoyed each other. 

“When I first got on the council we joked that he was to the left of me, and he said that I was way to his right,” Cheney said. “We kibbitzed frequently. He was just a nice man.

“He truly wanted what was best for Laconia.

“We did joke with each other. He didn’t take himself too seriously. Whether or not we agreed with what was going on, he had a good humor about his position on things. I don’t recall him ever being hostile about anything with anybody.”

Cheney’s predecessor on the City Council, Ava Doyle, said she enjoyed looking out for Bownes at council meetings, always making sure she had the throat lozenges, tissues and pens he always seemed to be lacking.

“It was my responsibility to pull the microphone up to his mouth for him to speak into it,” Doyle said. “He had a habit of backing away and pontificating.”

After she left the council, she tasked Cheney with bringing the throat lozenges.

Neil Pankhurst, co-founder and artistic director of the Winnipesaukee Playhouse, said Bownes appeared in 17 of its productions from 2005 to 2018. 

“In terms of the local community theater, he will be sorely missed,” Pankhurst said. “He was a talented actor and I loved working with him.” 

Pankhurst wanted to be a lawyer but ended up making a career in the theater. Bownes wanted to be in the theater but ended up making his livelihood as an attorney.

His dramatic skills may have helped him in court.

“I know he made a lot of court appearances,” Pankhurst said. “Being a lawyer in court is sort of like giving a performance, after all.”

Some of Bownes's roles at the Winnipesaukee Playhouse had a legal bent. 

He played Judge Hathorne in "The Crucible," Juror No. 8 in "12 Angry Men" and the judge in "The Government Inspector."   

“His typical role would be a very compassionate and very even-keeled character, and that was his personality also,” Pankhurst said.  

Bownes was born and raised in Laconia and graduated from Laconia High School in 1967. He graduated from Columbia College in 1973, and earned his law degree from the University of New Hampshire in 1982.

He worked at the New Hampshire Public Defender’s office from 1982 to 1986 before going into private practice. He maintained a law office in downtown Laconia.

He was elected in 2013 to represent Ward 2 on the Laconia City Council.

Hugh Bownes, his father, served as mayor of Laconia before becoming a Superior Court judge and then a U.S. District Court judge.

Under the city charter, vacancies occurring in the office of councilor or mayor are to be filled by a majority vote of the City Council at the next regular meeting or at a special meeting within 30 days following creation of the vacancy.