"No. 3 in a series 'Meet Your Minister'" from the August 16, 1956 Door County Advocate
THE REVEREND BERNARD HOGAN, subject of this week's "Meet Your Minister" article, is shown here. —Advocate photo
No. 3 in a Series
'Meet Your Minister'
This is the third in a series of articles written by the Rev. I. Dean Jordan of the First Methodist church, Sturgeon Bay. Rev. Hogan is from the Sister Bay Baptist church.
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It was near noon when I was received into the Hogans' home. Rubbing his chin Rev. Hogan commented: "Excuse my appearance. I have so many evening meetings that I don't shave until noon, then I don't have to shave again in the evening." His apology was unnecessary. The bright red walls of their newly decorated parsonage, and the lovely modern furniture had so taken my attention that I had paid no attention to his whiskers. An unfinished railing lay on the stairs. "My father-in-law is supervising that job," volunteered Mr. Hogan. "I don't have any talents that way."
"I don't have many talents when it comes to yard work, either," he continued. "We never had a garden before coming here. When we started planting I was ready to plant the seeds at the bottom of the hole turned by my spade. Fortunately I read the directions on the envelope and found that 2" deep was a maximum.
"What really like is golf. I live, eat and sleep it. With Peninsula Park golf course so close I get in a lot of playing."
Mrs. Hogan, who had been in the kitchen when our conversation started, entered and sat down with us. He was commenting that if he had a pet peeve it was being late. Mrs. Hogan smiled and spoke.
"That makes me think of our wedding. Our best man almost didn't get there. He was notorious for being late. We sort of counted on it and had another man ready in case he should be late. We waited and waited and waited. Just as we were ready to go ahead, using our second best man, he arrived. We have a picture of the two preachers` looking at a watch as he came in the door. The picture is amusing only to us who know what they were consulting the watch about."
"Where were you married?" I asked.
He Went to Glory
"'We were married while we were in Bethel college in St. Paul, Minn., answered Mrs. Hogan. "I always wanted to marry a preacher. I had always been close to the church and felt had some call to serve in it some way. It seemed to me that marrying a minister would help fulfill that calling.
"I was ordained just a year ago this spring, you know," continued Mr. Hogan. "Before that, while I was in seminary, I had a student charge In Glory, Minn. The fellows at the seminary would joke that while I might go up to Glory on weekends I had to come back to the seminary for the rest of the week.
"I really hadn't planned on being a minister. Since I was a little boy I had planned on being a doctor. A chum of mine and I used to plan how we would hang out our shingles together. I applied as a pre-med student at Northwestern university in Evanston, Ill., but my application was too late to be accepted so I went into the army.
Remembered His Prayer
"When I got out of the army I was 19. It is hard to explain to one who hasn't gone through it, but shortly after I was discharged I had a conversion experience. It was at this time that I became a Baptist. I had belonged to the Evangelical and Reformed church. That evening as I prayed I remembered a time when I was a little child. My Mother was seriously ill and I prayed, "God, if you help my Mother get well, I'll do anything you want me to do."
I had forgotten the prayer, but the evening after my conversion I remembered it. That's the first time the possibility of my being a preacher really became serious. Then, through the counseling of an older minister I was convinced that I should enter the ministry. At the time there seemed to be no particular moment when I decided, or any particular meaning in the various events, but looking back I can see God at work in them leading me in the direction he wanted me to go.
"I haven't been in the ministry long enough to have had many experiences that are worthy of note. I am happy in my work. Sometimes, I wish there weren't so many evening meetings. So does our oldest son Harold. He is six. Occasionally when he goes to bed at night, and we are going to a meeting, he will complain: "Why do you have to go out every night?"
Fun Making Noise
I didn't see Harold during my visit with the Hogans. I almost didn't see Daniel. Lee, their 18 month old son. After I left, however, I remembered that I had not asked about their family devotions, so I returned. I was met by Mr. Hogan and by Danny. Danny was having a good time dragging his play phone behind him letting it clang against the floor, so we went upstairs to Rev. Hogan's study for a quiet talk.
Shortly afterwards Danny toddled in, still clanging the phone and enjoying the noise. Mr.. Hogan just finished saying: "We have our family devotions in the morning. We've found that's about the only time we can have them with our busy evening schedule. We gear them completely to our oldest boy. We use a little pamphlet prepared by our denomination. Our prayers are beamed at Harold, and also our Scriptures."
I asked if Danny interfered.
Enjoys His Files
"Does he! We try to suggest to him to go so someplace else while we have our devotions. It doesn't do much good, though. He can't talk yet, but hell bow his head and fold his hands and mumble something. He's a strong-willed child. Very good-humored, but when he makes up his mind . . . People in our area wonder which side of the family he takes after."
After Mrs. Hogan had come up and restored silence by carrying Danny away Mr. Hogan showed me his extensive files. "I like to work on filing systems, he commented. "It's fun."
As I was leaving I noticed Mrs. Hogan at the sewing machine working on a new skirt. "I enjoy sewing," she said. "It gives me a sense of creating something. And, of course, it helps save money, too.'
Saying goodbye, I noticed. that Mr. Hogan had a cleanly shaved face. I wondered what meeting he had that night.
Courtesy of the Door County Library Newspaper Archive
Articles by the Rev. I. Dean Jordan
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