- Born
- 1927-04-10
- Died
- 1980-04-09
- Work
- Secretary-Treasurer, Beaver Island Historical Society · Board member, Beaver Island Civic Association (recurring election through at least 1969) · Treasurer, St. James Township for 29 years (per a November 1978 township resolution and her own April 1980 obituary); succeeded in the post by her son, person/james-l-wojan · Trustee, St. James Township · Chairman, Beaver Island March of Dimes Mother's March
- Spouse
- Walter A. Wojan
- Children
- Patricia "Patty" Wojan · Diane Terese Wojan · Edward Bruce "Ed" Wojan · Jeanne Marie Gillespie · Ronald "Ron" Wojan · Audrey Potter · James L. Wojan · person/angela-j-wojan + 2 more
- Member of
- Beaver Island Civic Association · Beaver Island Historical Society
- Eras
- Modern era
- Concepts
- communityhealthcaregovernancetourismreligion
- Within
- Beaver Island
Summary
Vera M. Wojan, born McDonough (10 April 1927 – 9 April 1980), combined twenty-nine years of St. James Township office — Treasurer from April 1949 and Trustee to November 1978 — with two decades chairing the island’s March of Dimes Mother’s March, a founding role in the Beaver Island Historical Society, over forty years as Holy Cross Church organist, and co-ownership with her husband, Walter Wojan, of Wojan Construction Company and two St. James tourist courts. The Beaver Beacon spelled her married surname both Wojan and Wogan across three decades of civic and business notices; this record treats the two as the same person, born a daughter of Lloyd and Eva (LaFreniere) McDonough of St. James, married to Walter A. Wojan on 29 January 1947, and the mother of ten children.
History
Wojan was a founding officer of the Beaver Island Historical Society, elected Secretary-Treasurer when the board organized in September 1955 to restore James Strang’s Print Shop; Beacon notices through 1961 direct membership dues and donations to her by name. She and her husband, Walter Wojan, opened a St. James tourist court, Harbor View, in June 1960, and a second motel, Harbor View II, “on the hill overlooking the harbor, across from the ferry dock,” in June 1971, operated jointly with the original; her own 1980 obituary describes her as “a full and active partner” with Walter in both the motels and Wojan Construction Company. She served on the Beaver Island Civic Association board across multiple elections from 1958 into the late 1960s, playing piano at a 1963 Association farewell party for Joe Dillingham.
Township treasurer and trustee, 1949–1978
A November 1971 notice on island dog licensing is the earliest source read for this article to give her township office directly, naming “Mrs. Vera Wogan” as St. James Township Treasurer alongside Peaine’s Rose Connaghan. A fuller record surfaced on 1 November 1978, when the township presented her a formal resolution of appreciation, reported by the Beacon as recognizing “her nearly 30 years of service to the Township”: Treasurer from April 1949 to November 1974, and Trustee from November 1974 to November 1978 — a period that includes the November 1974 election also recorded as a separate episode at Vera Wogan.
March of Dimes and church music
Wojan appears on the island’s March of Dimes committee as early as February 1965, and by February 1972 the Beacon credits her with directing “the teams of women who worked on the drive,” which raised $175 that year. She headed the drive through the 1970s — $423.50 raised in 1978 and $554.40 in 1979, when she thanked eight named “Marching Mothers” — and organized Christmas Eve carol singers for Midnight Mass in the winter of 1978–79, having already led school-children’s Christmas caroling in December 1974. A June 1979 thank-you names her as the organist at a funeral service. A January 1990 Beacon retrospective states the Mother’s March “began as a favorite cause of the late Vera Wojan, who served as its chairman for many years until her death in 1980,” and a December 1980 notice reports the Charlevoix County March of Dimes chapter donating a Castle operating lamp to the Medical Center in her memory, “in recognition of Vera’s many years of service.”
Lloyd McDonough’s May 1972 obituary names “Mrs. Walter (Vera) Wojan” among his surviving daughters, together with a sister, Mrs. Russel (Joy) Green, confirming her parentage. A January 1962 birth notice for a daughter, Ann Marie (Ann Marie Schmidt), records that the child “makes ten for the Wogan family”; her own 1980 obituary later confirms and names all ten — sons Edward B., Ronald L. (Ronald "Ron" Wojan), and James L. (James L. Wojan), all of St. James, and daughters Mrs. John (Jeanne M.) Gillespie, Angela J., Diane T., Linda L., and Ann M., all of St. James, and Mrs. Audrey C. Potter and Patricia A. Wojan, both of Petoskey. James L. Wojan succeeded his mother as St. James Township Treasurer around the time of her November 1974 move to trustee, per her obituary’s account of the office passing to him.
Death, April 1980
The Beacon’s April 1980 issue, printed within weeks of her death, first records her riding the island on Easter Sunday, 6 April, with the self-styled “Easter Bonnet Gang” — Ann Hayhoe, Harriet and Nancy Rafferty, and Joannie (Rafferty) DesChamps — stopping cars to sing “In Your Easter Bonnet” to those they met. Three days later, on 9 April 1980, Vera Wojan died suddenly at her home in St. James, aged 52. Funeral services were held 9 April at Holy Cross Catholic Church, Rev. Gabriel Fox, O.F.M. officiating, with interment in Holy Cross Cemetery. Her obituary, printed the same issue, gives her full birth date — 10 April 1927, in St. James — and her marriage to Walter A. Wojan on 29 January 1947, also in St. James; it credits her with over forty years as Holy Cross Church organist and years as one of the parish’s religion teachers, alongside the township, civic, and March of Dimes record documented above. An editor’s note calls her “one of the pillars of this Island community,” and reports letters and tributes arriving in numbers too great to print in full; at the family’s request, a Holy Cross Church organ fund was started in her memory in place of funeral flowers. A granddaughter, Kendra Vera Wojan, born to Jim and Karen Wojan on 30 May 1980, carried her name within weeks of her death.
Significance
Across a single household name spelled two ways, the Beacon documents a woman who simultaneously held elected township financial office for twenty-nine years, ran the island’s oldest continuous public-health charity drive for about fifteen years, helped found its historical society, served as parish organist for over forty years, and co-ran two of the island’s early tourist businesses and a construction company with her husband — a breadth of institutional role matched by few other individually documented islanders in this period.
Evidence and limits
The cemetery source supplies only birth and death years; her April 1980 Beacon obituary supplies the exact dates and is treated as authoritative for birth, marriage, death, and family detail, as a family-supplied newspaper obituary rather than an independent vital record. The 1971 dog-licensing notice and the 1978 township resolution are the only sources read for this article that name her township office directly before the obituary; earlier and later Civic Association board notices do not distinguish her Civic Association board seat from her separately elected township offices, and this article does not assume continuity between them. See Walter A. Wojan for the fuller discussion of the Wojan/Wogan spelling question, which applies equally to this record.
Open questions
- Did Vera Wojan seek re-election as township trustee after November 1978, and what occasioned her leaving that office two years before her death?
- What became of Wojan Construction Company after 1980, and is it related to the later, separately documented Ron Wojan Construction / Ron Wojan General Contractor Inc. run by her son?
- No source read for this article states a cause for her sudden April 1980 death beyond the obituary’s own wording, and none is inferred here.
See also
Kin
Sources
- Identifies Vera Wojan as head of the March of Dimes collection, directing the teams of women who worked the drive.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1973-02_Beaver-Beacon
- The held seven-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report.data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1973-02_Beaver-Beacon
- Lists Vera M. (McDonough) Wojan (1927–1980), spouse of Walter Wojan and child of Lloyd and Eva LaFreniere McDonough.
- Names Vera Wogan Secretary-Treasurer of the newly formed Beaver Island Historical Society board. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1955-09_Beaver-Beacon
- "Walter and Vera Wojan's new tourist court is now completed and open for business," establishing Vera as joint proprietor.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1960-06_Beaver-Beacon
- Names "Mrs. Walter (Vera) Wojan" among Lloyd McDonough's surviving daughters, confirming her father's identity and maiden name.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1972-05_Beaver-Beacon
- Reports the December 11, 1961 birth of a daughter, Ann Marie, to "Walt and Vera Wogan," noting "this makes ten for the Wogan family."data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1962-01_Beaver-Beacon
- Names Vera Wogan as head of two nights of Christmas caroling by island school children.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1974-12_Beaver-Beacon
- Lists Vera Wogan as a Saint James Township trustee, a second episode-qualified record kept at [[person/vera-wogan-township-election-1974]].data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1974-11_Beaver-Beacon
- Reports Vera Wojan placing third in the women's Powder Puff snowmobile race.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1971-03_Beaver-Beacon
- Reports Walter and Vera Wojan opening a second motel, Harbor View II, "on the hill overlooking the harbor, across from the ferry dock," operated jointly with the original Harbor View Motel.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1971-06_Beaver-Beacon
- Identifies "Mrs. Vera Wogan" as St. James Township Treasurer, issuing dog licenses December 1 to February 28 alongside Peaine Township Treasurer Rose Connaghan -- the earliest source read for this article to name her township office directly.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1971-11_Beaver-Beacon
- Reports that on November 1, 1978, St. James Township presented Vera Wojan a resolution of appreciation for "her nearly 30 years of service to the Township," stating she "served as Treasurer of the Township from April 1949, to November 1974, and also as Trustee from November 1974, to November 1978." The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1978-11_Beaver-Beacon
- Names Vera Wojan on the March of Dimes party committee under chairman Archie LaFreniere; the party raised $148.52.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1965-02_Beaver-Beacon
- Reports $175.00 collected under Archie LaFreniere's supervision, thanking "Mrs. Vera Wojan, who directed the teams of women who worked on the drive."data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1972-02_Beaver-Beacon
- Reports "Mrs. Vera Wogan reports that the total proceeds from the March of Dimes on Beaver Island was $423.50." The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1978-02_Beaver-Beacon
- Reports $554.40 raised, with "Vera Wojan, Chairman," thanking the "Marching Mothers": Ruth Himebauch, Phyllis Moore, Mary Palmer, Jeanne Gillespie, Connie Wojan, Kathy Speck, Mary T. Green, and Linda McDonough. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1979-04_Beaver-Beacon
- Reports a Christmas Eve Midnight Mass chorus "organized by Vera Wojan" that sang carols, with Joe Moore performing "O Holy Night" on violin. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1979-01_Beaver-Beacon
- Names "organist Vera Wojan" among those thanked for services at Don Burke's funeral. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1979-06_Beaver-Beacon
- States the Mother's March "began as a favorite cause of the late Vera Wojan, who served as its chairman for many years until her death in 1980." The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1990-01_Beaver-Beacon
- Reports the Charlevoix County Chapter of the March of Dimes donating a Castle operating lamp to the Medical Center in memory of Vera Wojan, "in recognition of Vera's many years of service to the March of Dimes as Chairman." The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1980-12_Beaver-Beacon
- Describes a Civic Association farewell party for Joe Dillingham with "the fine accompaniment of Vera Wogan at the piano."data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1963-05_Beaver-Beacon
- Full obituary. Reports she died suddenly on April 9, 1980, at her home in St. James; funeral services were held April 12 at Holy Cross Catholic Church, Rev. Gabriel Fox, O.F.M. officiating, with interment in Holy Cross Cemetery. Gives her full birth date, April 10, 1927, in St. James, and her marriage to Walter A. Wojan on January 29, 1947, in St. James. States she was church organist "for over forty years," a Catholic religion teacher for many years, a member of Holy Cross Church's Altar Society, "a full and active partner" with her husband in Wojan Construction Company and Wojan's Harbor View Motels, and Township Treasurer "for 29 years before giving up the job to one of her sons, James L. Wojan, who currently holds that post." Names ten surviving children -- sons Edward B., Ronald L., and James L., all of St. James; daughters Mrs. John (Jeanne M.) Gillespie, Angela J., Diane T., Linda L., and Ann M., all of St. James, and Mrs. Audrey C. Potter and Patricia A. Wojan, both of Petoskey -- resolving the "makes ten" count in the January 1962 birth notice above. An editor's note calls her "one of the pillars of this Island community," and reports that a Holy Cross Church organ fund was started in her memory at the family's request, in place of funeral flowers. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1980-04_Beaver-Beacon
- The held issue confirms the obituary, editor's tribute, and organ-fund notice.data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1980-04_Beaver-Beacon
- Describes Vera Wojan riding the island on Easter Sunday (April 6, 1980) with Ann Hayhoe, Harriet and Nancy Rafferty, and Joannie (Rafferty) DesChamps as the "Easter Bonnet Gang," singing to those they stopped -- printed in the same issue as her obituary, three days before her sudden death, though the item does not itself reference her death. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1980-04_Beaver-Beacon
- Reports the May 30, 1980 birth of a granddaughter, Kendra Vera Wojan, to Jim and Karen Wojan, naming grandparents "Walt and the late Vera Wojan" -- the earliest source read for this article to name a Wojan grandchild directly. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1980-05_Beaver-Beacon
Added 1 August 2026 · revised 5 August 2026. Recent changes
Cite this article
Beaver Island Archive, “Vera M. Wojan”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/people/vera-wojan-march-of-dimes-1973/, accessed [date], citing Beaver Beacon, February 1973, “March of Dimes.” (and 25 further sources listed on the page).
Last revised 2026-08-05. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.