Pioneers of WCG

LIST OF WCG PIONEERS

OR SENIOR VETERANS

THE WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD

Compiled by C White

version 3.2 24 March 2005

[should the reader be able to fill in further details, do not hesitate to let me know. There is no doubt further information about these men in the Worldwide News, Pastor-General’s Report, In Transition and The Journal publications.

For a list of early Ambassador College graduates, please go to http://www.thejournal.org/archives/acgrads.html

Surname	First Name	Current CoG or at death	Year joined AC/WCG	If Deceased, date	Key contributions/office/short biographies

Adair	Colin	GCG	1962	15 Nov 1998	RD (Canada; Phillippines)
Albert	David	WCG	1959		Evangelist
Ames	Richard	LCG	1962		ACE. Evangelist
Antion	David	SC CoG	1956		GTA’s brother-in-law (married Molly, Shirley Armstrong’s sister)
Apartian	Dibar	LCG	1955		ACE. FLD (French); ACE; Evangelist. Mr. Apartian, for example, came as an employee with no ties to WCG, so the date shown is the year he joined the AC faculty. He was baptized months or years later.
Armstrong	Dwight	WCG	1949	1984	Authored the Bible Hymnal. There is a WN article about him.
Armstrong	Garner Ted	ICG	1955	15 Sept 2003	Deputy to HWA
Armstrong	Herbert W	WCG		16 Jan 1986 (6 Shebat)	Human founder [NB: Loma Armstrong dies in mid-1967 – so HWA died in the 19^th year since his wife’s death]
Armstrong	Richard D	WCG		30 July 1958	Second in line after HWA in the 1950s. Died in a tragic motor car accident.
Billingsley	Don	CoG,FF	1953		He was ordained into the ministry, along with Leroy Neff, Allan Manteufel, Bryce Clark, on June 7, 1958 by Mr. Armstrong and other evangelists joining him on stage. He was ordained a deacon the previous year.
Blackwell	Dean	WCG	1952	2003	ACE. Evangelist (his library was procured by UCG – apparently he had ever book ever published on the Waldensians)
Brown	Frank	WCG	1961		RD (Britain)
Catherwood	Carn		1957
Chapman	Ben	CGI	1959		Married Dick Armstrong’s wife
Cole	C Wayne	Non-aligned	1952		Evangelist. Associated with Big Sandy CoG
Cole	Raymond C	CoG,E	1947	2001	Evangelist
Dart	Ronald	CEM	1958		Evangelist
Dean	Aaron	UCG	1969		PA to HWA
Dick	Raymond		1957	2004	Not a minister but another long-time employee and manager who knew HWA well
Dillon	Walter E		1947	1984	HWA’s brother-in-law
Dorothy	Charles		1955	2001?	FLD (Spanish). “Also in 1953, Charles Dorothy, my "brother," left the University of Washington and his ROTC status and came to AC for the Fall term. He began his AC course and it soon became clear that he had a facility for languages and research. He studied and later taught Greek. He added to his Spanish toward a PhD degree, and took up Hebrew -- a glutton for punishment!”(http://www.godward.org/archives/Special%20Articles/Jon%20Hill%20Story%20Part%202.htm) What became of his library?
Elliott	Jack	UCG	1949		Dean of Students from early 1950s. Wrote a booklet about Masonry. “In February, 1953, Mr. Jack R. Elliott, then dean of students, asked me if I would go with him as a guest to visit a businessman's "Toastmasters' Club." These clubs are, I believe, worldwide. They are evening dinner speech clubs. First, several men are called on without advance notice to stand and discuss, in one or two minutes, some topic assigned by the "table topics chairman." Later there are a number of prepared speeches, usually limited to about six minutes. “Mr. Elliott wanted to introduce speech clubs into Ambassador College activities, patterned after these clubs, but with a few variations adapted to our needs. We saw at once the value of such an activity at Ambassador. In February, 1953, the first of these clubs was organized and under way. Our adaptation was called the Ambassador Club. Soon there were two such clubs on the Pasadena campus, then three, then four. In 1954, there were seven at the Pasadena campus.” (The Autobiography, Vol 2, ch.60).
Fahey	Bob	UCG	1961		Evangelist. PA to HWA and RD (S Africa; NZ)
Hammer	Buck	UCG		15 Nov 2003	Elder. “In 1953 donated the original 20-25 acres of property that became the core of the Ambassador College campus near Big Sandy” (The Journal, Nov 2003 – see below for further details)
Helge	Ralph	WCG	1958		Legal Aide
Herrmann	Kenneth		1949		Kenneth Herrmann was one of the early students of Ambassador College in Pasadena , registrar, head of the student admissions committee and a teacher of astronomy and geology at the Pasadena Campus until 1972 . In the early years of the church Mr. Herrmann was the editor of the Ambassador College yearbook "The Envoy and he also was a programmer for the punch card addressing system used by the then Radio Church of God to send out the Plain Truth and other correspondence. In 1972 Mr. Herrmann was put on extended Sabbatical leave due to political problems in the Pasadena administration and transferred to the Big Sandy area where he and his family have lived since that time. He contributed to various teaching needs at the Big Sandy campus until the campus closed . Mr. Herrmann first heard the World Tomorrow program while he was working as a farmhand in Nebraska. He drove out to Pasadena in 1948 thinking that if Mr. Armstrong was telling the truth " it would be worthwhile to go out and check this man out" He ended up enrolling in Ambassador as the only new student to arrive in time for the second year of the college. Later that year Raymond McNair and his brother enrolled also. In 1952 Mr. Herrmann married an Ambassador coed who was from the Little Rock area of Arkansas -- Elise Bernard ( who died in 1997 ) He was born on a dairy farm in a German speaking community in the Colby Wisconsin area in 1924 . His parents were children of German immigrants and he spoke German as a child. Mr. Herrmann wrote articles for the early Plain Truth and Good News issues including " How long were the 'days' of Creation?", "Should Christians Celebrate Birthdays?" , "Beautiful in it's simplicity, A calendar Based solely on Biblical Principles", "God's Sacred Calendar" His 1967 Master of Arts Thesis was titled "Calendar and Eclipse Interrelationships". In the 1940 GOOD NEWS letter by HWA, the foundation was laid for our understanding of the Hebrew Calendar. Later, Herrmann wrote an article on the subject in the March 1953 GOOD NEWS. The article was republished in the February 1957 GOOD NEWS (with small changes) – this research has continued as the foundation for Church of God calendar research.
Hill	David Jon		1951	24 Nov 2003	Page 6 of the November 2003 issue of The Journal contains an article by Brian Knowles about him (http://www.thejournal.org/issues/issue82/knowles2.html). For a short autobiography go to http://www.godward.org/archives/Special%20Articles/a_hill_of_an_experience.htm
Hoeh	Herman L	WCG	8 Oct 1947	21 Nov 2004	Having heard HWA over the radio, he knew immediately that he was God’s man. He was also, by then, a Bible student (I heard that he was also a sabbatarian at that time, but not sure). Gave closing speech at AC, Big Sandy. Gave eulogy at HWA’s funeral. Evangelist; researcher; first pioneer after HWA. First AC class and also first student graduate (1951). In mid-1985 HWA called him as one of the first to be contacted re succession. Not to offer him the job, but to get advice from him as to who could possibly succeed him. During the conversation Hoeh volunteered that he was not interested in the job, and it is said that HWA was possibly not going to offer it to him anyhow. We know that he was offered to do some World Tomorrow programs and he turned that down. Indeed, HWA asked him to guide Tkach and “to show him the ropes” during the first stages of his leadership. Various myths include: he was ‘into’ Buddhism (in fact, he was interested in their historical records about Christ that were extant in Tibet until just after WW2 but disappeared after it); that he owned ranches and was rich (but he and his wife lived a humble and contrite life); not true; that he accepted the changes and the Trinity – no way! He brought many new truths into the Church including far more details for various doctrines, historical understanding and how it relates to prophecy; Assyrian origin of Germany; HWA was an Apostle; Church governance etc, etc. He was very influential in a number of other areas such as the Ambassador Foundation. ACE NB: he died in the 19^th year since the death of HWA. Further articles about him may be found in the December 2004 The Journal.
Hogberg	Gene	WCG			Elder.
Hulme	David	CoG, aic	1968		ACE. Evangelist
Hunting	Charles F		1958
Jackson	Harold	WCG	1959	1991	ACE. Evangelist
Kelly	Ronald	WCG	1956		ACE. Evangelist
Kubik	Vic	UCG	1966		Pioneered relationships with CoGs in eastern Europe
LaRavia	Ellis	UCG	1966		ACE. Evangelist
Luker	Dennis	UCG	1960		ACE. Evangelist. RD (Australia)
Martin	Ernest	ASK	1955	Early 2003
Mattson	Vern				HWA's son-in-law who served as Business Manager in the 1950s and early 1960s
Mauck	Hugh		1955	2001	Not a minister but a long-time manager in Mail Processing in Pasadena
McCullough	Les	UCG	1957		ACE. Evangelist. RD in UK, Canada, South Africa. AC Vice Chancellor
McMichael	Sherwin	UCG?	1958	2002?
McNair	Burk	UCG	1950	2002?	Evangelist
McNair	Carl	LCG	1956	2004?
McNair	Raymond F	CoG, 21^st Century	1949		ACE. Evangelist
Meredith	C Paul	WCG			Uncle of R C Meredith. Author of ‘Satan’s Great Deception’
Meredith	Roderick C	LCG	1949		ACE. Evangelist
Neff	Leroy		1951		Evangelist. Mr Neff and his wife started Church attendance in August 1951 in Portland, Oregon. Entered Ambassador and employed in 1955. BA degree from Ambassador 1959, MA degree in 1962. Instructor at Ambassador in Pasadena and Big Sandy. Ordained elder 1958, pastored several churches. Served in various capacities in administration. Treasurer 1981-1990. Member Advisory Council of Elders (ACE), board member, and secretary of the board. Writer for Church publications. Retired 1995.
Paige	Richard	WCG	1968	1994	Mr Paige died from cancer at age 51. In addition to an M.A. in history from New York University, Richard had a B.A. from Ambassador College (Pasadena class of 1970) and a bachelor's degree in medical technology. In recent years the former Ambassador professor of history and archaeology worked as a medical technician at Mother Francis Hospital in Tyler, Texas. He is survived by his wife Deanne and children Michael and Shoshan (WN, 8/9/94, p. 11).
Portune	Albert		1959
Rader	Stanley	n/a		2002	Evangelist
Rea	Benjamin	WCG		1965?	No one seems to know when Benjamin Rea joined AC or the church. It must have been in the 1950s because he was sent to help open the Bricket Wood campus in 1960 but the precise year eludes is unknown. He died before WCG computerized the employment records in the early 1970s.
Rice	Richard	WCG	1954	5 July 2003	ACE. Evangelist
Salyer	Larry	UCG
Schnee	Frank	WCG	1961	2003	RD (Germany)
Schulz	Roy	WCG	1958		Wrote a thesis on the first 2,500 years of man (much now known not to be completely accurate, but useful and makes one think). What happened to his library?
Schurter	Dale	UCG	1962		Agricultural expert. What became of all his research after his death?
Smith	Norman	WCG	1951		ACE. Evangelist.
Tkach, Sr	Joseph	WCG	1963	23 Sept 1995	ACE. Evangelist. Pastor-General 16 January 1986 – 23 Sept 1995. Pushed the Church into apostasy. [many Big Sandy AC books were bought by UCG I believe]
Torrance	Lynn	LCG	1953	25 Sept 2004	Famous for his article and sermon on his captivity in the hands of the Japanese and how captivity to the House of Israel is coming again.(further details below)
Walker	Leon	UCG	1955		ACE. Evangelist
Ward	Donald	UCG	1969		Evangelist. AC Chancellor
Waterhouse	Gerald	UCG	1952	4 Sept 2002	Evangelist (see The Journal, Sept 2002, p.4 – see below for further details)
Wilson	Dean	UCG	1958	11 Jan 2005	Mr. Wilson first came to Ambassador College in 1958. He served as Regional Director in Canada and Australia for many years, as well as in the field ministry in the U.S. He became affiliated with the United Church of God in 1995. He died at the age of 75.
Wolverton	Basil	WCG		1978	Famous for his graphic representations of the Tribulation and Day of the Lord

KEY:

ACE = member of Advisory Council of Elders

FLD = Foreign Language Director

PA = Personal Assistant

RD = Regional Director

List of the first ministers – year ordained

1 Herbert Armstrong	1931
2 Herman L. Hoeh	1951
3 Raymond Cole	1952
4 Richard D. Armstrong	1952
5 Roderick C. Meredith	1952
6 Dr. C. Paul Meredith	1953
7 Raymond F. McNair	1953
8 Norman A. Smith	1954
9 Herbert Burk McNair	1954
10 George A. Meeker, Jr.	1954
11 Dean C. Blackwell	1954
12 C. Wayne Cole	1954
13 Jimmy L. Friddle, Jr.	1955
14 David Jon Hill	1955
15 Garner Ted Armstrong	1956
16 Gerald D. Waterhouse	1956

Radio Church of God congregations by 1958

Pasadena	1947
San Diego