Mayor Glenn Sperry
By James Donahue
Glenn Sperry was a young up-and-coming lawyer with an office in downtown South Haven. I knew him through my work in the courts but we were not good acquaintances, at least at first. Then one day something happened that changed all that.
Glenn called and asked if I could come to his office. He said he wanted my advice on something important. How could I resist an invitation like that? I showed up.
Glenn said he was thinking seriously about running for the office of mayor. But he said he was a Democrat living in a predominately Republican area and needed some technical advice on how to run a successful campaign. He said he had been watching me and reading my stories. Since I had covered a few elections, he thought I might be in a position to give him some good advice.
I don’t think Glenn knew just now much of a novice I was at the time. I reacted in two ways to his question . . . I was extremely flattered . . . and I was extremely afraid that I might not know enough to really help him. I grew up in a Republican-based area, my father was a hardline Republican and I knew from my own observation that Democrats almost never won in these kinds of neighborhoods. Yet I was not completely opposed to the Democratic Party and its ideals. My wife’s father was a hardline Democrat and we had debated politics many a time at his home. Doris and I constantly canceled each other’s votes in those days because she always put her X on the Democratic side of the ballot while I faithfully voted on the Republican side.
I thought for a while as Glenn watched from behind his desk. I knew Glenn was an extremely personable man with a sharp mind and probably would have good leadership qualities if given the job as South Haven’s mayor. I told him that I thought the best way for him to get elected was to personally meet people. I suggested that he conduct a door-to-door campaign, making sure that me shook everybody’s hand in the city and leave them a poster assuring that they saw his name in print before going into the voting booth. He thanked me for my thoughts and we parted ways.
Not long after that I was pleased to learn that Glenn was conducting the styled campaign that I had outlined. He spent every evening going from house to house, knocking on everybody’s door, and promoting himself as a candidate for mayor. He really worked hard on that campaign.
Glenn was running against a long-time council member who drove around in a Mercedes and flaunted his personal wealth. But this candidate was so sure of his Republican standing that he didn’t bother to work very hard for votes. He assumed that everybody would naturally vote for him because he was a Republican.
I worried that he might be right, and that Glenn Sperry was working very hard for a losing cause. Needless to say, on Election Day, I dared to join my wife and cast a vote for a Democrat.
I am happy to say that Glenn Sperry won that election. He was the cities first Democratic mayor as far back as anybody could remember. And he was so popular, and so good at the job, that he remained mayor of the city for several years to follow.
Glenn and I became the best of friends after that. He was active in civic affairs after a two term stint in the mayor's seat. Glenn died in 2019 at the age of 83.
By James Donahue
Glenn Sperry was a young up-and-coming lawyer with an office in downtown South Haven. I knew him through my work in the courts but we were not good acquaintances, at least at first. Then one day something happened that changed all that.
Glenn called and asked if I could come to his office. He said he wanted my advice on something important. How could I resist an invitation like that? I showed up.
Glenn said he was thinking seriously about running for the office of mayor. But he said he was a Democrat living in a predominately Republican area and needed some technical advice on how to run a successful campaign. He said he had been watching me and reading my stories. Since I had covered a few elections, he thought I might be in a position to give him some good advice.
I don’t think Glenn knew just now much of a novice I was at the time. I reacted in two ways to his question . . . I was extremely flattered . . . and I was extremely afraid that I might not know enough to really help him. I grew up in a Republican-based area, my father was a hardline Republican and I knew from my own observation that Democrats almost never won in these kinds of neighborhoods. Yet I was not completely opposed to the Democratic Party and its ideals. My wife’s father was a hardline Democrat and we had debated politics many a time at his home. Doris and I constantly canceled each other’s votes in those days because she always put her X on the Democratic side of the ballot while I faithfully voted on the Republican side.
I thought for a while as Glenn watched from behind his desk. I knew Glenn was an extremely personable man with a sharp mind and probably would have good leadership qualities if given the job as South Haven’s mayor. I told him that I thought the best way for him to get elected was to personally meet people. I suggested that he conduct a door-to-door campaign, making sure that me shook everybody’s hand in the city and leave them a poster assuring that they saw his name in print before going into the voting booth. He thanked me for my thoughts and we parted ways.
Not long after that I was pleased to learn that Glenn was conducting the styled campaign that I had outlined. He spent every evening going from house to house, knocking on everybody’s door, and promoting himself as a candidate for mayor. He really worked hard on that campaign.
Glenn was running against a long-time council member who drove around in a Mercedes and flaunted his personal wealth. But this candidate was so sure of his Republican standing that he didn’t bother to work very hard for votes. He assumed that everybody would naturally vote for him because he was a Republican.
I worried that he might be right, and that Glenn Sperry was working very hard for a losing cause. Needless to say, on Election Day, I dared to join my wife and cast a vote for a Democrat.
I am happy to say that Glenn Sperry won that election. He was the cities first Democratic mayor as far back as anybody could remember. And he was so popular, and so good at the job, that he remained mayor of the city for several years to follow.
Glenn and I became the best of friends after that. He was active in civic affairs after a two term stint in the mayor's seat. Glenn died in 2019 at the age of 83.