Southern Baptist workers, by the very nature of their daily life and ministry in communities throughout the world, have always lived with a measure of danger during the International Mission Board’s 157-year history.
Remarkably, however, only 19 workers among thousands sent out have been killed in violent circumstances since 1845, counting hospital workers Bill Koehn, Martha Myers and Kathy Gariety who were killed in Jibla, Yemen, Dec. 30 by a lone gunman.
Myers, a medical doctor, was a member of Dalraida Baptist Church, Montgomery (see story, page 1).
The other missionaries killed, by date, were:
-April 21, 1998 — Charles W. Hood Jr., Colombia, murdered by robbers.
-March 23, 1995 — Chu Hon and Kei Yi, Khabarovsk, Russia, murdered in their locked apartment.
-March 27, 1991 — Lynda Bethea, Kenya, killed by highway robbers near Kijabe, Kenya.
-October 2, 1990 — Alabamian Mary Anna Gilbert, China, killed in crash of hijacked Chinese jetliner in Guangzhou, China (teacher with Cooperative Services International). Gilbert was from Alexander City and a 1990 graduate of the University of Alabama. Gilbert was a member of Calvary Baptist Church, Tuscaloosa, while in college.
-November 26, 1986 — Libby Senter, Liberia, murdered, along with her daughter, Rachel.
-October 11, 1985 — James Philpot, Mexico, shot following an automobile accident.
-June 15, 1978 — Archie G. Dunaway Jr., Rhodesia, killed by guerrillas.
-March 11, 1973 — Gladys Hopewell, Taiwan, murdered.
-January 16, 1972 — Mavis Pate, Gaza, shot by Arab guerrillas in ambush as she drove near a refugee camp.
-July 7, 1971 — Paul E. and Nancy Potter, Dominican Republic, murdered.
-February 10, 1951 — William L. Wallace, China, died in communist prison.
-January 1942 — Rufas F. Gray, China, died in Japanese camp for war prisoners in Baguio, Philippines.
-December 1880 — John Westrup, Mexico, murdered by band of 20 Indians and Mexicans while traveling from Santa Rosa to Monterey.
-October 1, 1861 — J. Landrum Holmes, China, murdered attempting to dissuade invaders from attacking the village of Chu Kia on Shantung Peninsula-Taiping Rebellion.
Additionally, 40 Southern Baptist workers have been killed in accidents during the 157-year history of the International Mission Board (formerly the Foreign Mission Board), and 18 deaths — including 12 in China — were reported prior to 1937 but without a listed cause of death.
(BP)
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