(Nov. 4, 2014 - by Harold Goerzen)  “You’re crazy to go to Ecuador,” people told Dr. Gil and Pris Wagoner as they prepared to serve as missionaries in Latin America. “They don’t even allow foreigners to practice medicine in that country.”

Their daughter, Rosemary Hagen, admitted that the critics had a point. Ecuador hadn’t awarded medical diplomas to foreign doctors since the early 1960s. And why would Gil leave the comfort of the successful private practice in internal medicine that he’d run in Middletown, Ohio, for 24 years? Now in their early 50s, making such a major move at this stage in life seemed unwise.

“As a missionary kid growing up in Chile, I’d always considered missionary work upon retirement,” said Gil in an interview years before his death at Mount Pleasant Retirement Village in Monroe, Ohio, on Tuesday, Oct. 21, at the age of 91. “However, the Lord called me to missions 10 to 11 years ahead of my plans.”

Answering God’s Call

Things began to move in 1975 when Gil and his then-14-year-old daughter, Rosemary, joined a Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA) mission tour, visiting the denomination’s ministries in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. In Quito, Ecuador, Gil first learned about the broadcasting and medical ministries of Radio Station HCJB, a station operated by the ministry now known as Reach Beyond.

“Dad was then asked to share his experience and the needs in South America in many churches around Middletown,” Rosemary recounted. “During one of these services he read in Isaiah, ‘Here am I, send me,’ and God said, ‘You.’ Dad said he fought the idea for about three weeks, telling the Lord there were younger people who could go. Finally he submitted to God, sold everything, left his patients to other doctors, and we left for Spanish language school in San José, Costa Rica [in January 1978].”

While in Costa Rica, the Wagoners worked with some other missionaries to expand El Templo Evangélico (Evangelical Temple). “Through their participation, they expanded the church and built a huge sanctuary which was completed before we left for Quito [in August 1978],” Rosemary said.

Defying the odds, Gil in faith began to pursue a medical license upon arriving in Ecuador. Less than two years later, he became one of the first two American physicians in more than 15 years to receive medical diplomas and licenses to practice medicine in the country, and both were named associate professors of internal medicine at the Catholic University’s medical school in Cuenca, Ecuador.

Gil’s impact was immediate and lasting, soon becoming the head of medical education at Hospital Vozandes-Quito where he was a staff physician and Pris served as a registered nurse. He introduced the specialty of family medicine to Ecuador and launched a three-year family practice residency program.

“There have been several doctors who were involved in the area of medical education at the hospital, including the hospital’s founder, Dr. Paul Roberts,” said Roger Reimer who directed Reach Beyond's Healthcare Division in Ecuador for many years. “But Dr. Gil Wagoner was instrumental in the formation of the medical education emphasis of the hospital.”

Fondly nicknamed by his residents, interns and medical students as “Doctor Siete” (Dr. 7)—the staff had trouble pronouncing his surname—he touched the lives of hundreds of Ecuadorians and other Latin Americans during his decade of missionary service.

Transforming Lives

Among the many residents and interns, coming from 19 different countries, whom Gil mentored was a young man named José “Pepe” Eras who was an atheist when he entered the residency. However, he heard the gospel at Hospital Vozandes-Quito, eventually giving his life to Christ and becoming an “aggressive evangelist,” said former Reach Beyond physician Dr. Richard Douce.

“We learned a lot from Dr. Wagoner, both in medicine and at Cardiología Espiritual (Spiritual Cardiology) Bible studies,” Eras said in an email message. “He was a great proponent of God’s Word…. We learned so much from this noble person. May he rest in peace.”

Now working as a family practice physician in Quito, Eras also serves as secretary of the Colegio Médico de Pichincha (Pichincha Medical Society) and teaches at Universdad Central.

Douce himself was influenced greatly by the Wagoners. “Gil was instrumental in my becoming a missionary,” he explained. “I first met him when visiting Ecuador as a medical student in 1979. I was impressed with how he related to the interns and the impact the teaching ministry was having in Ecuador.”

“His heritage as a missionary kid from Chile set him in an advanced class for being able to relate to the medical community in Quito,” Douce added. “God used Gil and Pris to give me and my wife, Marian, a vision and perspective about our then-future ministry.”

In Quito, the Wagoners also helped establish a church called El Batán where Gil served as associate pastor. Today the church has more than 1,500 members and has given birth to four additional churches in Quito.

In total, Gil preached in six different countries: Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Chile and the U.S. In Chile he had the opportunity to preach in the church that his father had founded some 50 years earlier.

Recounting God’s Providence

So what led up to the Wagoners’ becoming missionaries in 1978? Gilbert “Gil” Peter Wagoner was born in Osorno, Chile, on May 17, 1923, the son of C&MA missionaries Henry and Clara Wagoner, originally from New Jersey.

Gil attended the English Boys School in Temuco, Chile, then transferred to El Liceo de Hombres (Men’s Lyceum) in Temuco where he completed his sophomore year. The family returned to New Jersey where he attended Hawthorne High school, graduating in 1939 at the age of 16.

Because he was too young to start university, Gil began studying at Drake Business College in Paterson, N.J., and worked in various positions at Prospect Park National Bank where he became head of the bookkeeping department.

He entered the U.S. Army in 1943, serving as an antiaircraft gunner for three years before enrolling at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. Two years later he took an exam, hoping to continue his studies under the GI Bill. He was successful, scoring so high that he was able to use the program to enter the premed course at the University of Chicago.

It was while living in Chicago that Gil met his future wife, Priscilla “Pris” Joseph, at a youth fellowship at a local Methodist Church—the same church were they later married on June 28, 1947.

“When he proposed to Mom, he asked if she would consider being a missionary, and Mom of course said yes, not knowing he would take her up on this 30 years later,” Rosemary said.

After finishing premed school, Gil enrolled in the University of Illinois College of Medicine where he graduated with honors, completing his bachelor’s degree and then his MD in 1948. This was followed by a three-year residency program in internal medicine at the University of Cincinnati.

Upon completing his studies, Gil decided to re-enlist in the military soon after the start of the Korean War. When he visited the Pentagon in 1951, the staff was so impressed that a doctor would take this step that they and immediately gave him the rank of captain and appointed him to head the medical department at Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City, Fla. He also served as the base psychiatrist.

After Gil completed his military service, the Wagoners moved to Middletown where Gil worked as the plant physician at Gardner Board and Carton Co. while remaining on the Active Reserve for four years. In Middletown he also helped found Faith Alliance Church.

It was while operating a private practice in Middletown that the Wagoners were called by God to serve with Reach Beyond from 1978 to 1988, primarily in medical work, but also in church outreach after hours.

Serving in Retirement

On returning to Middletown in 1988, Gil was appointed chaplain of the Willow Knoll Retirement Community, visiting residents in the home four to five times a week.

He was also a member of Breiel Boulevard First Church of God, serving in various capacities, including nine years on the mission board. He also participated in a number of mission work camps, visiting churches in Mexico and Peru.

Gil was a 50-year member and past president of the Kiwanis Club, having 40 years of perfect attendance. He belonged to numerous organizations in both the U.S. and Ecuador, including the Quito Kiwanis Club.

In addition to his wife of 67 years, Pris, he is missed by his three children, Jack, Jim and Rosemary, as well as five grandchildren. The funeral service was held on Thursday, Oct. 23, at Breiel Boulevard First Church of God in Middletown with Pastors Eric Newell and Wes Duff officiating. Burial followed at the Monroe Cemetery.

“I was very blessed to have such a kind man to be my father,” concluded Rosemary. “He always thought the best of people and cared greatly for everyone he met.”

Source: Reach Beyond