Major Ben Meyer, 99, was promoted to Glory March 23 from San Francisco. Meyer was born May 15, 1913, in Chicago. He and a friend put together a song and dance act and performed around the Chicago area. Following his conversion, he gave up performing to attend Moody Bible Institute. During the Depression he enlisted [...]
Lenore (Lennie) Johnson, 92, was promoted to Glory from Santa Monica, Calif., Feb. 9. Lenore Butler, born Sept. 20, 1920, to a devout Quaker family, was playing piano at worship services by age 11. She earned bachelor’s degrees in both religion and music. When she married Cedric Morris, a Salvationist from the Portland Citadel Corps, [...]
Joe Hoogstad, Sr., a patriarch of the Spokane (Wash.) Citadel Corps, was promoted to Glory Jan. 7, shortly before turning 88. He was a soldier for over 70 years and served as bandmaster, songster leader and in other local officer positions. Hoogstad was born Jan. 26, 1925, in Spokane, the fourth of eight children of [...]
Clarence M. Jackson, Sr., 78, Tlingit tribal leader and Salvationist, was promoted to Glory Jan. 31 from the Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau, Alaska. Jackson was born May 24, 1934, in Kake, Alaska, and graduated from Sheldon Jackson College in Sitka, Alaska, in 1954. He married Gertrude Louise (Lidda) Paddock in 1951; together they had [...]
Major Francis L. Ragland, 76, was promoted to Glory Jan. 23 from Stockton, Calif. Francis Ragland was born Dec. 4, 1936, in Gillette, Wyo. His father died while Ragland and his four siblings were still young. His mother remarried, and the family moved to Boise, Idaho, where he was introduced to The Salvation Army. After [...]
Lt. Colonel David Allen, 83, was promoted to Glory Jan. 11 from his home in Menifee, Calif. David Royal Allen was born July 13, 1929, in Mt. Vernon, Wash., the son of Captains John and Amy Allen. While his parents served in Santa Ana, Calif., David attended Santa Ana High School and Santa Ana Junior [...]
By Barry C. Swanson, Chief of the Staff General John Gowans (Ret.), 78, was promoted to Glory from a nursing home in South London Dec. 8, 2012, after a long period of declining health. Gowans, The Salvation Army’s international leader from 1999 to 2002, will be remembered for his unique, colorful and larger-than-life personality. “When God [...]
Commissioner Wilma Smith, 94, was promoted to Glory from Torrance, Calif., on Nov. 19. Wilma Deloris Cherry was born in Omaha, Neb., March 17, 1918. She entered the School for Officer Training and was commissioned in 1937 with the Guardians of the Covenant Session. Her first appointment as a probationary lieutenant was to assist at [...]
Lt. Colonel R. Eugene Rice, O.F., was promoted to Glory Oct. 7 from Poulsbo, Wash. Gene Rice was born May 27, 1919, in Chelsea, Okla. He was raised in the local Southern Baptist Church where he accepted Jesus Christ as Savior. He graduated from Chelsea High School in 1937. After graduation, he hitchhiked to Portland, [...]
Major Kay Kortstra was promoted to Glory Aug. 29 from San Diego, Calif. Kay Hofman was born Sept. 24, 1923, to Geertje and Willim Hofman in Groningen, Holland. She became acquainted with The Salvation Army at the age of 12 when she attended an open-air meeting. Hofman married Ralph Kortstra and the couple emigrated to [...]
