About Vincent L. Hawkinson

A remarkable man of faith and action

During his 30-plus years of service to Grace University Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, the Rev. Vincent L. Hawkinson served his parishioners with exemplary compassion and care. Never losing sight of the world and its pain, he continually reminded his people of their responsibility to respond to the suffering of society. He was outspoken against oppression and inequality in all its forms.

Rev. Hawkinson believed it was the duty of religious leaders to speak up and act against injustices and violence in the world. He marched in the South during the Civil Rights movement. Later, during the war in Vietnam, he was a vigorous opponent to the war effort and openly voiced his views. He urged fellow pastors and the church at large to stake a stand against the war, but, as he said later, most of the time he felt very much alone.

A son of Swedish Lutheran immigrants, Rev. Hawkinson was born in 1915 and grew up on a farm near Taylors Falls, MN. He graduated from Augsburg College in Minneapolis and eventually enrolled in Augustana Seminary in Rock Island, IL, graduating in 1944 — the same year he married Gloria Lindgren.

Rev. Hawkinson served in a number of churches on the East Coast before being called by the Lutheran World Federation to help settle European refugees in the aftermath of World War II. In 1952, he and Gloria returned to the United States, where his pastorates included church in Brooklyn, NY that he helped to integrate during the 1950s.

In 1956, Rev. Hawkinson was called to Grace University Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, where he served until he retired in 1988. He continued to minister at several other Lutheran churches after his retirement from Grace. He died in 2001 at the age of 86.

Upon his retirement in 1988, the members of Grace Lutheran established a legacy to this remarkable man of faith — the Vincent L. Hawkinson Foundation for Peace & Justice. Through the Foundation, his presence remains and his witness endures.

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