Bishop Ryan Catholic School will induct the Rev. Monsignor J.W. Hogan and Grace Fisher into its 2012 Hall of Fame Inductees. The 10th annual Hall of Fame Banquet and Induction Ceremony will be held Oct. 13 at 6 p.m. in the Grand International Inn.
Hogan came to Minot to serve as an assistant pastor to Rev. Joseph Raith at St. Leo's Catholic Church in 1923. Three years later the Hogan-Raith team opened St. Leo's School, staffing it with Franciscan Sisters. In 1929 the school was expanded to 12 grades. Hogan was principal and then superintendent, presiding over the school throughout its 29-year history. The facility ceased to exist as a high school in 1958 when Bishop Ryan High School was opened. In 1953 construction of Little Flower Church and School was started under Hogan's direction.
By 1941 Hogan was named the parish pastor at St. Leo's, following Raith's retirement. He held many titles at the school, including teacher and drama and basketball coach. There were 167 games won and only 41 losses in his 10 years as coach. He won three state championships, in 1938, 1939 and 1943.
Hogan was one of the forerunners to organize the Minot Recreation Commission. The commission formed in 1947, and he was named its first commissioner. That same year, he was presented with the Silver Award by the Great Plains Area Council for Boy Scouts. Hogan was chaplain of the William G. Carroll Post of the American Legion He was a member and served as president of the Rotary Club and was active in the old Minot Quarterbacks Club.
Hogan was invested as a monsignor in 1949 under the direction of Pope Pius XII. Hogan died on Feb. 12, 1959. Bishop Ryan Catholic School's Hogan Field is named in his honor.
Fisher graduated from St. Leo's High School in 1950 and has been a longtime supporter of Catholic education in Minot. She has served on the Bishop Ryan Foundation Board and is the outgoing president of the Hogan Heritage Society Board of Regents. Fisher has represented St. Leo's Parish on the Strategic Planning Committee for Bishop Ryan Catholic School's current capital campaign. She established the Tom and Grace Fisher Memorial Scholarship, providing many families the financial support to educate their children at Bishop Ryan.
Fisher began working at The Minot Daily News in 1956 and spent more than 30 years as a reporter, editor, and briefly, a librarian. In the late 1980s, Fisher went to work at Thompson-Larson Funeral Home, which was owned and operated by her husband, Tom Fisher.
Fisher wrote "St. Leo's: The First 100 Years (1886-1986), and "Sisters in Teaching: The Minot Catholic Schools, 1926-2006," a compilation of the presence of nuns and laywomen in the Minot Catholic Schools.
Fisher has been a member of St. Leo's Parish for 80 years and has served as a lector and eucharistic minister. She served on the first parish council and has been involved in numerous parish programs.
Fisher graduated from Minot State University in 1959 with a bachelor of arts degree in history. She has served on the MSU Board of Regents since 2001.