Biography
Chester “Chet” Lee Guinn was a United Methodist minister and longtime Iowa peace and justice organizer, born July 19, 1928. He worked in Mississippi freedom schools and voter registration during the 1960s and later served as the Iowa Methodist Federation for Social Action’s peace and justice advocate. On December 28, 1981, Guinn entered Offutt Air Force Base during a Feast of the Holy Innocents witness against nuclear war. Military authorities detained him for several hours, issued a barring letter, and released him. Guinn remained active in antiwar, civil-rights, labor, and LGBTQ-solidarity campaigns until his death on August 2, 2025.
