Wensell, Egil Haakon (1927–2017)

Egil Wensell was a pastor, educator, educational manager, and rector of Adventist educational institutions.¹

Egil Haakon Wensell was born in Puiggari (now Libertador San Martín), Entre Ríos, Argentina, on February 1, 1927, the son of Niels Wensell (1902–2000) and Lidia Arn (1896–1995). He was Roald Wensell’s older brother.² Lidia was a nurse who graduated from the Nursing School of the River Plate Sanitarium, Entre Ríos; Niels was a nurse who graduated from the same institution, and he also graduated from the ministerial course at River Plate Academy (now River Plate Adventist University) in Entre Ríos.

Niels and Lidia went to the Bolivian highlands with their three-month-old son Egil to take responsibility for the mission station called “del Mauri” (name of the local river), or Rosario, more than 4,000 meters (13,000 feet) above sea level, among an settlement of the indigenous Aymara. On their return to the Argentine Republic, Egil settled with his parents in the cities of Posadas, Misiones, then in San Miguel de Tucumán, Tucumán, and Corrientes, in the province of Corrientes. In this last city, he completed his primary school studies.

In 1941, Egil went to River Plate Junior College (now River Plate Adventist University). In 1945 he graduated from high school, being part of the first graduation of the course later to be incorporated into official education, but at the time attached to the National Paraná Academy, Entre Ríos. He also graduated from River Plate College (now River Plate Adventist University) with a bachelor of theology degree in 1946, and in the same year, he was the director of the student magazine La voz del colegio [The voice of the academy].³ With the purpose of acquiring missionary experience, he spent the summers of 1945 and 1946 canvassing.

In March 1947, he carried out ecclesiastical tasks in the Buenos Aires Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and desiring to expand his preparation, he enrolled in the School of Philosophy and Humanities at the University of Buenos Aires in the History faculty, from which he graduated in 1954. During this period, he married Inés Gertrudis Eger, with whom he had three children. Inés was born on October 25, 1925, and died on April 23, 2017.

Egil H. Wensell’s teaching activity began in 1954 at Florida Adventist Institute, Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he served two years as a teacher and eight as a rector. He then went to the Juan Bautista Alberdi Institute, Misiones, Argentina, where he was the director for six years.⁴ In 1965 he was ordained to the ministry. He was the general director of River Plate College for eight years (1970–1974, 1976–1978) and academic director for six years.⁵

Willing to expand knowledge, he was awarded a scholarship to study at Andrews University, Michigan, United States. In 1975, he obtained an MA in educational administration, and in 1982, he earned a doctorate in education.⁶ After his retirement in 1988, besides writing a magnificent history of Libertador San Martín, Entre Ríos, Argentina, and its institutions, with his advice and experience, he participated in the creation of the River Plate Adventist University (UAP).⁷ He was also the manager at the food company Alimentos Ceapé in the same institution.

Dr. Egil Haakon Wensell died on August 23, 2017. 

Sources

Álvarez, Raúl Roberto. IJBA, hogar de mis recuerdos: orígenes y presente [IJBA, home of my memories: origins and present]. Libertador San Martín, Entre Ríos. River Plate Adventist University, 2018.

“Falleció el Pr. Roald Niels Wensell Arn” [Pr. Roald Niels Wensell Arn passed away]. La Agenda [The agenda], July 9–15, 2015, 4.

La voz del colegio [Voice of the academy], November 1946, 1, 9, 11.

Priora, Juan Carlos. “Falleció el Dr. Egil Wensell” [Dr. Egil Wensell passed away]. La Agenda [The agenda], August 24–31, 2017, 6.

Wensell, Egil H. “Año mundial de la educación adventista—El Colegio Adventista del Plata: Joven a los ochenta” [World Year of Adventist Education—River Plate Adventist College: Young at eighty]. La Revista Adventista [Adventist review], December 1978),13–14.

———. “Celebración del 25° aniversario” [Celebration of 25th anniversary]. La Revista Adventista [Adventist review], January 1969, 11–12.

———. El poder de una esperanza, que educa y sana [The power of a hope that educates and heals]. Libertador San Martín, Entre Ríos: River Plate Adventist University, 1993.

———. “Informaciones del IJBA de Misiones, Argentina” [Information of the Missions IJBA, Argentina]. La Revista Adventista [Adventist review], February 1970, 17.

———. “Noticias del IJBA” [IJBA news]. La Revista Adventista [Adventist review], September 1969, 16–17.

———. “River Plate College: An Historical Study of a Missionary Institution, 1898–1951.” Ph.D. diss., Andrews University, 1982, https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2536&context=dissertations.

Notes

1. See Juan Carlos Priora, “Falleció el Dr. Egil Wensell” [Dr. Egil Wensell passed away], La Agenda [The agenda], August 24–31, 2017, 6; Egil H. Wensell, El poder de una esperanza, que educa y sana [The power of a hope that educates and heals] (Libertador San Martín, Entre Ríos: River Plate Adventist University, 1993), 304.↩

2. Pastor Roald Niels Wensell, born in October 23, 1929, in Posadas, Misiones, was the second son of Niels Jorge Carlos Wensell and Lidia Arn. He married Nilde Elina Mangold on December 20, 1951, with whom he had three children: Silvia Ester, Rene Oscar, and Ruth Elena. He worked in accounting and administrative areas at the River Plate Sanitarium and the South American Spanish Publishing House (1953–1954), at the Austral Union Conference (1955–1961, 1966–1980), at the North Argentine Mission (1962–1965) and at the South American Division (1980–1990). When he retired, he was the administrator of the Medical Career of the Faculty of Health Sciences of the River Plate Adventist University for almost 10 years. He passed away in Libertador San Martín, Entre Ríos, Argentina, on July 2, 2015. See “Falleció el Pr. Roald Niels Wensell Arn” [Pr. Roald Niels Wensell Arn passed away], La Agenda [The agenda], July 9–15, 2015, 4.↩

3. La voz del colegio [Voice of the academy], November 1946, 1, 9, 11.↩

4. Egil H. Wensell, “Celebración del 25° aniversario” [Celebration of 25th anniversary], La Revista Adventista [Adventist review], January 1969, 11–12; E. H. Wensell, “Noticias del IJBA” [IJBA news], La Revista Adventista [Adventist review], September 1969, 16–17; E. H. Wensell, “Informaciones del IJBA de Misiones, Argentina” [Information of the Missions IJBA, Argentina], La Revista Adventista [Adventist review], February 1970, 17; Raúl Roberto Álvarez, IJBA, hogar de mis recuerdos: orígenes y presente [IJBA, home of my memories: origins and present] (Libertador San Martín, Entre Ríos. River Plate Adventist University, 2018), 127–150.↩

5. E. H. Wensell, “Año mundial de la educación adventista—El Colegio Adventista del Plata: Joven a los ochenta” [World Year of Adventist Education—River Plate Adventist Academy: Young at eighty], La Revista Adventista [Adventist review], December 1978, 13–14.↩

6. See Egil H. Wensell, “River Plate College: An Historical Study of a Missionary Institution, 1898–1951,” (Ph.D. diss., Andrews University, School of Graduate Studies, 1982), https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2536&context=dissertations.↩

7. Wensell, El poder de una esperanza.↩