Calvin Professor Terry Etter Passes Away

April 19, 2004

Shortly after joining the faculty of Calvin College as a professor of
business, Terry Etter did an interview for a Calvin publication in which he
talked about the challenges of being a teacher.

Etter came to Calvin with a variety of experience under his belt. He entered
the Air Force straight out of college, spent two years learning how to fly a
Phantom F-4 fighter jet (at the time the most sophisticated jet in the world)
and then went to Vietnam where he flew 200 combat missions in the span of one
year.

After that he went on to be a vice president for human resources at two
different businesses and also spent seven years working on men's ministries
projects on a national level.

And still, back in October 2000, he looked upon his first two months as a
Calvin professor of business and shook his head with a wry smile.

"I've found the transition a very humbling and demanding experience," he said
at the time. "It's been every bit as challenging as any business project or
position that I've held in business."

Despite the challenges, Etter worked hard at his teaching. And he believed
he'd found in the classroom his true calling.

But on Sunday, April 18, at approximately 2 a.m., Etter answered a new call -
his Savior's call - as he yielded to cancer after a 13-month battle with the
illness. He was 59 and is survived by his wife Rosemary, an assistant director
of admissons at Calvin, as well as two daughters, Lisa and Rachel, his mother
and numerous siblings, nephews and nieces and extended family.

On a website (see URL at bottom) set up to detail the Etter family's fight
against Terry's cancer, Terry wrote clearly about his approach to the disease.

"My kids decided having a personal webpage is a good idea to keep everyone
updated on my situation and treatment," he wrote as the site began in March
2003.

He continued: "In a peculiar sense this has been a very special time. My wife
and girls have been with me throughout this week, we are going through this as
a family and it has been a very special time of family intimacy. Expressing
love and affection for each other comes very easily and that feels really good.
I can't tell you how much it has meant to know that you are lifting us in
prayer."

Etter also spoke about his responsibilities at Calvin in that first entry.

"Please pray," he wrote, "for my family to be protected, wisdom for treatments
and that I can be focused to continue my teaching responsibilities at Calvin
starting Monday. I fully intend to keep serving at this position that I love
and feel privileged to be."

When he came to Calvin in 2000, Etter was excited to bring together his
various talents in one place. His work at Calvin as an educator combined
interests he began to develop already as a doctoral student when he earned his
Ed.D. degree at the University of Illinois in organizational development with a
dissertation on integrating technology into the workplace.

He also was excited to be teaching at a Christian college.

"Teaching at a Christian college is a profound experience," he said. "I was
led to Christ when I was in my 30s, after a period of real struggle. When I got
out of the Air Force I no longer knew how to define myself. I was a fighter
pilot; that was who I was. Then I didn't have that anymore. I was really
searching. And God found me. I was discipled by a Christian businessman. Now I
have an opportunity to not only teach, but also, hopefully, disciple others. Of
course, that's part of the challenge too."

Calvin colleagues say he met the challenge.

"He did a lot and achieved a lot," says Roland Hoksbergen, chair of the
economics and business department at Calvin. "He had a firm and never-wavering
conviction about what he was doing here."

Hoksbergen says Etter was instrumental in forging links between Calvin and the
local business community.

"He continued to consult with local business after he began teaching at
Calvin," Hoksbergen recalls, "especially Gordon Food Service. And he often had
students in his marketing classes working on real-life projects for local
businesses. They'd consider a challenge or a problem, work through it with
Terry's guidance and then present a report. He was very good about making
those connections with local business."

In his last website entry, dated December 29, 2003, Etter wrote about a more
enduring connection.

He had just finished a book written by Rodney Stortz, a minister, called
"Diary of a Cancer." Terry described the book as "a powerful testimony of a
man of faith's walk with a very rare cancer and his desire to be obedient, not
give in to despair, remain engaged and contributing and to honor God and point
people to Christ throughout the journey."

And then Terry wrote: "These are all things that I've expressed too. The
thing that was sobering is that Rodney Stortz was not healed from his disease,
at least in the flesh, and he died on March 9, 2003. Reading this journal was
sort of a wake-up call for me in that in spite of my desires, it is entirely
possible that I will not escape death as a result of this disease. Does that
diminish my hope or my desire to fight? Absolutely not. It does bring up the
question "are you willing to completely trust me in this?" The answer is yes,
by God's grace."

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For more, including a guestbook and details as they become available about
memorial services, see http://www.caringbridge.org/mi/etter/
Received on Mon Apr 19 11:00:01 2004