SEQUIM — The Trinity United Methodist Church congregation and pastor will pay tribute Sunday to Dan Terry, a medical-aid worker with Sequim ties who was one of 10 members of a team slain last August in Afghanistan.
“They had been planning to do something dating back to shortly after it all happened,” said Neil Parse, church spokesman.
The church’s 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. services will include a eulogy delivered by the Rev. Bill Gordon, a slide show and the dedication of a framed tribute to be placed on permanent display at Trinity.
Terry’s sister, Ruth Terry-Pantenberg, a Seattle-area resident and Terry’s only sibling, is expected to attend, Parse said.
Terry’s parents, the late Pat and George Terry, retired as missionaries and moved in 1990 to Sequim, where they joined the church.
Dan and his wife, Seija, visited his parents and attended Trinity when on leave from aid work in Afghanistan, which he did for 39 years.
After his parents’ deaths, the couple continued to visit the Sequim church at 100 S. Blake Ave.
Terry’s widow, who is a nurse, remains in Afghanistan but plans to retire to the United States in September.
The couple’s three children also live in the U.S.
While on leave in Sequim, Terry often joined the men’s Bible study group, gave a special presentation and frequently talked about his life’s work of helping needy Afghans, and organized a celebration of life for his parents in 2009.
George and Pat Terry lived not far from the church in southeast Sequim before they died. They were members at Trinity United Methodist from 1990-2009 after retiring as missionaries in Afghanistan.
Terry, 64, did relief work in Afghanistan since 1971, following in his parents’ footsteps.
Terry was one of six slain Americans in a team led by Tom Little, 62, of Delmar, N.Y.
Gordon said he only knew Terry for three years but “considered him a friend.”
“He was here until Christmas [2009] and then was on the East Coast until he went back to Afghanistan,” Gordon said.
“People here knew him and loved him, both he and Seija.”
Gordon said Terry and his wife gave a special presentation about their humanitarian work, and church members financially supported their cause.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the murders, alleging that the group, most of them devout Christians, were spies and tried to convert Muslims.
Some Afghan officials suspect that common criminals carried out the attack.
It was the biggest assault on foreign Christians since the 2007 kidnapping of 23 South Korean missionaries, two of whom were slain by the Taliban in Ghazni province.
The Rev. Bruce Griffith, a friend of Terry’s and executive with Global Ministries, said in August: “He was a United Methodist gift to the humanitarian cause in a country that has known bloodshed and pain for decades.
“He represented hope, peace, justice, and compassion.”
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.