Thanks to George McGovern’s advice (“Three words: Never. Give. Up.“) my parents helped me to get alive again. Thank you, Senator McGovern, for all your leadership for America, but most of all: thank you for saving my life.

George McGovern, the South Dakota Democrat who ran for president in 1972 as a staunch opponent of the Vietnam War and a strong advocate of economic equality, died early Sunday in Sioux Falls. He was 90.

In the fall of 1972, I was only 10, but even as a 5th-grader, I was moved by McGovern’s anti-war, pro-social-justice message. I had a “Come Home America” pin that I would wear everyday to school, and after school, I would go to the local campaign office to stuff envelopes and lick stamps.

At the crack of dawn on Election Day, I went with my father to hand out flyers to arriving workers at Litton Industries. I remember the flyers explained that you were aloud time off at the beginning or end of work to vote, and then, inside made the pitch to working Americans with the headline “How in the Hell Can You Vote for Nixon?”

George McGovern, a political hero of my early adult years has passed away at age 90. It was obvious from news reports early last week of McGovern being admitted to hospice and being unresponsive that this was only a matter of time. Yet there is a pain to this.

Chuck Berry — My Ding-A-Ling, live in London, 1972.