Poetry, music and public speakers captured hundreds of people’s attention and hearts at Napa Valley College’s gym Friday afternoon for a public memorial honoring late Napa Valley College President Dr. Chris McCarthy.

Among the event’s first sights was a live rendition of “Amazing Grace” played on bagpipes by musicians sporting kilts and other traditional Scottish attire, the presence of hundreds of friends and colleagues and a floral spray of gladioli, sunflowers, purple irises and bells of Ireland at the speakers’ podium.

Napa Police Department’s Honor Guard also contributed to the event, somberly marching in and placing the California and American flags at posts flanking the speakers’ podium.

On the heels of a welcome from JoAnn Busenbark, president of the college’s board of trustees, a representative of Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, read the audience a letter from the congressman, who was unable to attend the memorial due to voting obligations.

“I wish I could be here to deliver my sympathy to (McCarthy’s) family,” Thompson said, calling McCarthy an “extraordinary community leader” and crediting him for “making Napa Valley College the finest learning facility it can be.”

Thompson’s representative presented folded American flags to McCarthy’s family members including his wife, Carol Wirth and parents, John and Andrea McCarthy, who sat in the front row along with his brother, Eric McCarthy. The flags were flown over the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., Thompson’s representative said. 

Sue Nelson, the college’s vice president of instruction, told audience members that McCarthy “cared deeply about our students” and was a role model for students and colleagues alike.

Nelson said the college president was known for his “honesty, keen intellect, appreciation of life’s challenges and ironies” in addition to an unfaltering work ethic.

Dr. Jack Scott, chancellor of California Community Colleges system, said McCarthy served on several state and national college accreditation boards and was respected on many levels. In addition to being known for his “dynamic leadership,” Scott said McCarthy was also known for his love and support of the arts, writing, learning and students.

Napa Valley College Trustee Charles Meng said he remembered colleagues’ first impression of McCarthy in 2002 during the hiring search for a new campus leader. In addition to McCarthy’s commitment to academic excellence, Meng cited his love of learning, joking about master’s degree dissertation that ran in the hundreds of pages in which McCarthy made numerous references to “higher education in poetry.”

McCarthy, he said, was an “outstanding president and community college leader.”

Jose Hernandez, president of the Napa County Hispanic Network, said his agency is setting up a $1,000 scholarship in honor of McCarthy and his contributions to education.

Plans are in the works to name the college’s Library and Learning Center in honor of McCarthy, who worked on behalf of securing the college’s construction projects.