The Vogan File

George Lindsay Vogan,DFC,MA,MDiv,STM,DD(Clergyman/Professor)
Military Service - 1941 - 1945

Biography

Born in Wellesley Township, Waterloo County, Ontario, August 21, 1918 to Charles and Ella (nee Coghlin) Vogan. Attended Public School(Millbank, ON), Elementary (Dorking, ON)from 1923-29 and High School at Elmira, ON from 1929-32. From 1932 to 1935 he attended Stratford Collegiate Vocational Institute.

He began as a clerk with R.B. Hamilton's General Store in Millbank, On from 1935 to 36, then from 1936 to 1941 as a Junior and Teller-Accountant in the Bank of Commerce in Atwood, West Monkton and Ayr, ON. During this period he became an Associate member of the Canadian Bankers Association via the Shaw School Limited, Toronto, ON. He joined the RCAF in 1941 and after training was posted in late 1942 to England where he completed his training on bombers. He became a member of 427 Squadron, popularly known as the "Lion" Squadron because of its adoption by MGM. He completed his military career in 1945 with the rank of Squadron Leader after having been elevated to Bomber Leader of fourteen RCAF Squadrons and been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for "... act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty preformed while flying in operations against the enemy."

Distinguished Flying Cross

In 1945 he married Dorothy Isobel Skinner, his war bride; at the time he was attending Queens' University. He graduated in 1950 and was ordained by the United Church of Canada. He was then awarded a Travelling Fellowship to Cambridge University in England. Returning to Canada in 1952, he was appointed Minister Janetville-Pontypool Pastoral Charge at the Bay of Quinte, ON. He became a Professor at St, Stephen's College, University of Alberta in Edmonton in 1953 and taught there until 1971. From 1971 to 1972 he was Visiting Lecturer at the North American Baptist College in Edmonton. In 1972 for the next twenty years he was Lecturer and Tutor in Biblical Languages at the Newman Theological College in Edmonton. After retirement he continued as a Consultant in Biblical Languages. He had four children from his first marriage, Philip, Sandra, Stephen and Andrew. Dorothy died in 1971 and in 1975 he married Jeanine Carol Toews.

Professional/Trade Association:

Wartime Aircrew Association
America Summer Institutes
Historical Society of Alberta
Evangelical Fellowship of Canada
Church Alive
Renewal Fellowship
Community of Concern- United Church
Alumnus of Seven Educational Institutions of Higher Learning

Clubs, Lodges, Fraternities, Service Organizations:

United Church Men's Club(AOTS)
Boy Scouts of Canada
Alberta Interfaith Coalition of Aging (AICA)
Mountwood Senior Citizen's Lodge (Director)
Canadian Bible Society
Canadian Wildlife Federation
Church Leadership

Hobbies

Drama Club
Travel
Reading and Writing
Meals on Wheels Volunteer
Edmonton Film Society
Keeping Fit

Awards

Distinguished Flying Cross
Mentioned in Dispatches
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Divinity(Queen's University)
Master of Divinity (Queen's University)
Bachelor of Arts, CanTab, Cambridge, England
Master of Arts, CanTab, Cambridge, England
STM, Boston University, US
Doctor of Divinity, St. Andrew's College, Saskatoon

Genealogical Comments:

"There is nothing remarkable about the Vogan family. There is probably Viking and Huguenot blood in the background. We fled to Canada in the middle of the last century from the potato famine in Ireland. I am the only member of my immediate family to have finished high school. My career as a teacher is based on three University degrees at the Master's level - on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean and funded by the Department of Veteran Affairs in Ottawa. I have had my share of "glory days": while growing up meeting Lord Baden-Powell as a King's Scout and successfully playing softball, curling, horseshoes and bowling. Academically always doing well, internationally at the top of the class and then teaching across Canada and on four continents. Bombing leader for, initially ,427 Squadron and then later 6 Group. After the war I held positions as Pastor, Hospital Chaplin, Evangilist and Teacher at all levels of religious education including forty years as a Professor/Biblical Theologian leading in research, seminars, retreats, preaching and theme speaker. The motto of my house has always been "Où Dieu vous à semé, il faut savoir fleurir"//You've got to learn how to flower where God has sown you!"

Course 39, Air Observor School 1942