Rev Peter Gordon Gould

From findagrave.com

"Peter Gordon Galovin was the son of Andrei and Irina (Hubley) Galovin, he was born in Unga Village, Unga Island, Shumagin Islands, Alaska. His father was a fisherman and his mother a seamstress. Peter Gordon’s father died when he was six years old. The same year, his mother sewed for him a new wardrobe in preparation for his move to the Jesse Lee Home for Children in Unalaska, Alaska, which is approximately 380 miles westward on the Aleutian Chain. It was her wish that he would grow up to be an educated man. In one of her last letter’s to her son she expressed her wish that one day he would become a minister.

Peter Gordon lived at the Jesse Lee Home for seven years before leaving Alaska to work on an apple orchard farm in Glenco, Ohio, it is where he began supporting his way toward a higher educational degree. His sister Anna Gould also lived on the farm, she worked as a domestic helper while Peter worked outdoors, it was her idea that Peter Gordon also use the surname Gould. Anna was a strong support for her brother as he worked his way through primary and secondary education and seminary and university schools. Peter Gordon graduated from seminary in June 1923, and the same fall he entered the University of Syracuse where he completed the required course of studies in 1930 and was ordained an Elder in the Methodist Church. In 1932, he was appointed to the Bellevue Heights Methodist Church of Syracuse, and the fall of 1942, he was appointed to the Ontario Street Methodist Church of Buffalo.

In 1948, Rev. Gordon Gould accepted a position with the Division of Home Missions and Church taking on the responsibility of its Alaska Mission, and by 1950 he was the Director of Methodist Works in Alaska. For the next decade he worked to achieve his self-appointed mission of establishing a private liberal arts university in Alaska to grow leaderships that would stay and work within the state. In 1958, ground was broken to build Alaska Pacific University and in the fall of 1960 its doors officially opened for students. Rev. Gordon Gould’s mission was accomplished. “The road has been rough and hard and demanding,” he said, “but I wouldn’t trade my experience for anything.” His legacy is known to be the Father of the Alaska Methodist University."

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/59083829/peter-gordon-gould