Listen to this article
Lt. Colonel Herbert J. Wiseman was born in Duluth, Minn., Aug. 21, 1921. The family moved to Portland in 1936 where he graduated from Benson Polytechnic (High) School.
Commissioned in 1942 as a Salvation Army officer, Captain Wiseman served as a corps officer in Spokane and Aberdeen, Wash., as well as on the staff of the training college where he met his future wife, Lt. Donna D. Mulch.
After the pair married in 1953, the Wisemans served as corps officers in San Jose, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, California, and in Seattle, Wash. Other appointments included divisional youth secretary in the Northern California Division, city commander and corps officer in Oakland, Calif., general secretary and dean of men at the School for Officer’s Training in San Francisco, and then as the general secretary for the Southern California Division.
These assignments were followed by appointments as divisional commander for the Cascade Division for five years and then two years as field secretary for personnel in the Western Territory. Subsequently, Wiseman served as the assistant chief secretary and stewardship secretary followed by an appointment as the territorial secretary for program.
After retirement, the Wisemans conducted spiritual campaigns in corps and at Adult Rehabilitation Centers. In addition, they conducted seminars on prayer and stewardship and gave Bible messages at officers’ councils, camp meetings, and senior camps. On behalf of the divisional commanders, Wiseman regularly visited each of the retired officers in the Southern California and Sierra Del Mar Divisions for 14 years. They were interim corps officers in Riverside, Calif., and assistants at the Santa Ana Corps.
Wiseman attended the Brengle Memorial Institute in Chicago in 1957 and the International College for Officers in London in 1964. In 1966, when the Commissioner’s Conference created the National Evangelism Commission, Wiseman was appointed to it. When that commission formed the Soldier’s Seminar on Evangelism in Glen Eyre, Colo., he served on its staff for the first few years.
He is survived by his wife and daughter, Janet Fugate; grandchildren, Jon-Paul Wiseman (Rina), Piilani (Steven) Hall, Anisa Wiseman, Keale Wiseman, and Amelia Fugate; and great-grandchildren Rorie, Daeson, and Khalil Hall, Len and Miko Wiseman. He was preceded in death in 2011 by his son, Paul Wiseman.
The Hemet Corps hosted a celebration of life service Feb. 22 led by Corps Officers Lts. Anthony and Tammy Poe.
