January 28, 1924 - July 11, 2009
William "Bill" Vogel Obituary
Bill was born January 1924 in The Hague, Netherlands. He attended grade-, trade-, and high school, intermingled with periods of work during the Crisis Time (Dirty Thirties), and the beginning of German occupation which began in May 1940. In 1942, Bill tried to escape to Switzerland, but was caught at the Swiss border near Basel. After spending time in a number of prisons, he was put into forced labor on a farm, however very fortunate to be treated so well by this German farm family. At the turn of 1944/45, Bill was liberated by the Canadian Army and returned to the Netherlands where he volunteered for the armed forces. The northern part of the Netherlands was not yet out from under German Occupation. His Dutch contingent was attached to the British Royal Signal Corps, but after liberation of the northern part of the Netherlands, a new Netherlands (Dutch) Army had to be revived. For this purpose, he was trained in Scotland and Yorkshire. Upon return to the Netherlands, he served as Sergeant-instructor. In 1948, after discharge, he was hired by the Marshall Plan ECA office to assist in general help. During this time, he made contact with Johanna, whom he had met while in the Service. They became engaged and were married in 1950 in Amsterdam. At the end of that year, they immigrated to the United States and worked on their sponsor's farm in Orange County, California. Shortly after emigrating, he enrolled at CAL POLY where he studied farming and obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Agriculture. From California, Bill and Johanna moved to Bozeman, Montana where he received a Master's Degree in Agronomy. It was there that he and Johanna became American citizens. At the end of his education, they moved to Spokane where Bill was employed by Cominco for ten years. After some change in interests, Bill spent many years with Butler Manufacturing as Pacific Northwest manager where he worked creating businesses by appointing new or organized builders. He enjoyed special assignments to Europe, Thailand, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Bill retired in 1989, but remained active in the Ag Bureau and as a SCORE member for almost 15 years. He and Johanna were blessed with two children, Margaret and Vernon, and one grandchild, Bridget. They loved America and the Pacific Northwest where they enjoyed skiing, fishing and long distance bicycling. Bill will be greatly missed by all those he impacted throughout his life. A memorial service will be held at Heritage Funeral Home (508 N. Government Way), Saturday, July 18, 2009 at 1:00PM. Memorial donations can be made to The Union Gospel Mission.
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