Joseph T. Colgan

 Joseph T. Colgan (97) of Bel Air, MD died on July 1st, at Avondale Brightview Senior Living in Bel Air after a short illness.

Joe was proud of being a Navy veteran of World War II and of being a son of Jersey City where he was born on July 18, 1926 to Joseph T. and Alice Colgan. Jersey City was a bustling town in those days; a place where it was easy for a young boy to get in trouble, but with a father who was a local police chief, Joe knew he had to watch his step. But summers were his release. His mother came from a big farm family in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, and each summer she packed Joe off to work at the farm of one of his aunts. In later years, he was accompanied by his younger brothers Eugene (Gene) and James.

When Joe graduated from Saint Aloysius High School in 1944, World War II was raging around the globe. A few weeks shy of his 18th birthday, Joe had to forge his father’s signature to enlist. Like his dad, Joe volunteered for the Navy, but the experience he got was unlike anything he expected. Instead of being sent to a destroyer or an aircraft carrier, Joe was assigned to the Navy Armed Guard. This was program that placed gun crews on select merchant ships to defend them against enemy attacks.

It was a dangerous assignment. Merchant ships were slow and ill-equipped. Consequently, the Armed Guard had one of the highest casualty rates of any unit in World War II. According to Joe, other sailors referred to the Armed Guards jokingly as “fish food.”

Over the next two years, Joe sailed across the Pacific, the Caribbean, and up and down the East Coast of the United States. While anchored off Saipan he was injured in an explosion and was awarded the Purple Heart. Ships he served on included S. S. Texas Sun, S. S. William A. Borah, and S. S. Walter Williams. In June 1946 he mustered out of the Navy as a Seaman First Class.

 After the war, he used the GI Bill to attend college at Seton Hall becoming the first member of his family to earn a Bachelor’s degree.

 After graduation he went to work in marketing for A & P. At the time he and his buddies rented rooms from an older woman. They would pay the woman extra to cook for dinner parties to which they would take turns inviting the young ladies from the office.

 However, one particular beauty, Alice Cooke, was always left off the guest list. She was the daughter of the boss, who, unbeknownst to her had declared her off limits. When she confronted Joe about her lacking social life, he chose love over his career, and there’s no doubt it was the correct choice. They remained married for 52 years until her death in 2005.

 Initially they settled in her hometown of Philadelphia where they soon welcomed their first child, Alicia (Lisa) who was followed in short order by Joanne and Kevin. 

Joe’s career took a major turn when Jerold Hoffberger, owner of both the Orioles, and, more to the point, the National Brewing company, saw one of his marketing fliers and offered him a job. Initially Joe planned to move his young family to Baltimore where National was headquartered, but Jerry asked him to move to Florida where he had just bought an old brewery.

 The Colgans up and moved to Hollywood, Florida in the 1959 where their youngest child Kathy was born. By this time, Joe’s position for National required considerable travel, but he always made time for his kids when he was home.

After twenty years in Florida, Joe, Alice and family moved to Towson, Maryland. By now, a VP and National Director of Sales, Joe supervised a large field sales team that he helped integrate. He was a good boss. For years after his retirement in 1988 he stayed in close contact with most of his salesmen.

 The late ‘80’s saw the kindling of one of the great passions of Joe’s life, the restoration of the S. S. John W. Brown. Joe sailed on many Liberty ships during the war but now only two remained. Joe and his crew of volunteers were determined to restore the John Brown and open her as a floating museum. Joe spent many of his remaining years leading tours of the ship.

After Alice’s death, Joe moved closer to family in Ocean City, and finally to Avondale Brightview Senior Living in Bel Air. 

Through the years, from his earliest days at St. Al’s in Jersey City to his final years at St. Margaret’s in Bel Air, Joe was a faithful churchgoer. His life was devoted to faith, family, and fun, in that order.

He is predeceased by his brothers Gene and Jim, his loving wife Alice, his children, Lisa and Kevin, and his grandson Billy. He is survived by his daughter, Joanne Mold, and her husband, William (Bill), and their son, Colin; his daughter Kathy Rawlings, her husband, Keith, their children, Keith Jr. (Keifer) and Kurt; his son-in-law, Mike Houck, and his son, Patrick; and his daughter-in-law, Jennifer Colgan, and her children, Kaitlyn and Sean.

A funeral mass will be held at St. Margaret’s Church in Bel Air on Wednesday, July 10th at 10 AM. The family asks that in lieu of flowers, contributions be made to Project Liberty Ship S. S. John Brown https://www.ssjohnwbrown.org/ and that you acknowledge the heroes in your own family before they’re gone.