Rev. Gordon M. Torgersen

Rev. Dr. Gordon M. Torgersen, 91, Minister of the First Baptist Church of Worcester from 1951 to 1972, died on Monday, October 1, in St. Petersburg, Florida. He leaves his wife of 66 years, Margaret (Dahlberg) Torgersen, and his children, Dr. Joan T. Magill and her husband Thomas of Boynton Beach, FL; Philip G. Torgersen and his wife Gale of Paxton, MA; Gail T. Randall and Anne T. Goff, both of Worcester, MA; eight grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

Gordon Melby Torgersen was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, son of Gunvald and Stella (Melby) Torgersen. He grew up in St. Paul and graduated from Macalester College and Colgate-Rochester Divinity School. In 1960 he received an honorary Doctorate of Divinity degree from Macalester. He began his career as an assistant pastor in Dayton, Ohio where he had a special ministry to the military families stationed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. He was pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Ridgewood, N.J. from 1944 to 1951. He left Ridgewood to become minister of the First Baptist Church of Worcester. He later was Director of Church Relations at Colgate Rochester Divinity School (1972-1979) and President of Andover Newton Theological School (1979-1983). Following his retirement, he was a consultant to the American Baptist Ministers and Missionary Benefit Board.

Dr. Torgersen was known for his commitment to social justice, his skill in pastoral care, and his extraordinary preaching ability. He preached for the British Council of Churches, the U.S. Air Force, and the National Council of Churches television series, "Man to Man," which was aired nationwide until 1959 and then distributed to various parts of the world. He preached at schools such as Harvard, Princeton, Cornell, Wellesley, and Mount Holyoke as well as various New England preparatory schools. He was the first Protestant to preach at the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Worcester. He also preached twice at Riverside Church in New York City and at Trinity Episcopal Church in Boston, and Yorkminster in Toronto. In 1945 he opened the Lenten Series at Sing Sing Prison.

He was chairman of the committee to build Grotonwood, a conference center for American Baptists of Massachusetts. He was elected president of the Worcester Council of Churches in 1959 and was president of the Massachusetts Baptist (American) Convention from 1960 to 1962. He served as president of the Worcester Economic Club, Worcester Youth Guidance Association, and the Interfaith Clergy Association of Central Massachusetts. In 1963 he was named by the Governor to the Massachusetts Commission on Children & Youth. He was a board member of the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society and the American Home Baptist Mission Society and a member of the denomination's General Council. He was a trustee of Worcester Academy and WPI. In 1966 the Worcester NAACP honored him for his work. In 1973 he was presented with the Worcester Brotherhood Award by Congregation Beth Israel. In retirement he volunteered with the maintenance department at Westminster Palms Retirement Center and served on the board of directors of the Happy Workers Children's Center.

Faith in action was the essence of his life and ministry. Dr. Torgersen was threatened by the Ku Klux Klan in Ridgewood for his stand against Jews' not being able to live in the community. He urged Worcester industrialists to hire African-Americans in major positions. In 1965 he selected Rev. Archie Smith, Jr., an African-American minister, to be First Baptist's first Minister to the Community. The Worcester Police Department later named Rev. Smith Chaplain of Juveniles for the City of Worcester where he called for the establishment of a full time Juvenile Court. In January 1968, Dr. Torgersen asked City Manager McGrath to name a Human Rights Commission, which was established with a staff in June of 1968.

Gordon Torgersen stood with student activists during the Viet Nam War, offering a prayer at an early intercollegiate gathering and accepting an invitation from Holy Cross students to speak at a City Hall rally. In 1970 he said from the pulpit that if the United States was not out of Southeast Asia within a year he would withhold the military portion of his taxes. He believed that prayer was seeking creative change in pursuit of peace and called for putting every ounce of one's concentration, conviction and character into that effort.

A memorial service will be held at First Baptist Church, Worcester, on Saturday, October 20, at 2 p.m. Caswell-King Funeral Home of Worcester is in charge of arrangements. The family suggests that contributions in Dr. Torgersen's memory be sent to the Margaret and Gordon Torgersen Fund at the Greater Worcester Community Foundation, 370 Main Street, Suite 650, Worcester, MA 01608 or to Happy Workers Children's Center, 920 19th Street South, St. Petersburg, Florida.