Harold "Ed" Hogan

MISSOULA – Harold "Ed" Hogan, retired sergeant major and horseman, who was most proud of his loving relationships with his wife, children and grandchildren, died at home on Friday, May 10, 2013.

Ed was born in 1924 on a rural farm along the White River near Magness, Ark., one of nine children of Clementine and Alfred Hogan. A child of the Depression, he grew up working with horses on the farm.

As a teen, Ed discovered the West when he enrolled in the Civilian Conservation Corps and was sent to Pierce, Idaho. He returned to Arkansas to help on the farm, play basketball and graduate from Newport High School.

He then enlisted in the Army and served in the Lingayan Gulf Philippines, and Korea at the end of World War II. After the war, he was stationed in Fort Lewis Wash., where he met and courted Thelma Torgerson, a Norwegian-born daughter of a Tacoma-based millwright. Ed and Thelma married in 1949.

Ed became a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C., and for two decades the Army sent he and Thelma back and forth across the country from North Carolina, to Virginia, to Washington, to Alaska, to Arizona and then back to Alaska. During this time, they had three children, Marcia, Eddie and Lynnee.

In 1966, Ed was promoted to command sergeant major and assigned to the University of Montana ROTC in Missoula, which became the family's permanent home. Ed found time to ride horses and camp with his family. While on campus, Ed attended history classes which sparked a life-long interest in Western history.

Ed retired from the military in 1971 and worked once more with horses for the Phillipsburg Ranger District. His favorite trips were riding in the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness.

In 1974, he earned his realtor's license and worked part time for the next 20 years for Fidelity Real Estate. He continued taking backcountry horse trips in Montana and Canada and was a member of the Missoula Backcountry Horsemen.

For over 45 years, Ed was an active member of the First Presbyterian Church, where he served as an Elder. The church family was a central part of Ed and Thelma's lives together.

Ed is survived by his wife, Thelma; daughter Marcia and her husband Karl Englund and their son Brit of Missoula; son Ed and his wife Karen and their sons, Kevin and Peter of Seattle, and daughter Lynnee and her husband Bob Boyes and their daughter Rebecca of Shingle Springs, Calif. He leaves numerous nephews and nieces in Arkansas and the West.

A celebration of a life well lived will be held at the First Presbyterian Church, Tuesday, May 14 at 11 a.m.

Read Harold Hogan's Obituary and Guestbook on www.missoulafuneralhomes.com.