Former mayor, Terry, dies
John V. Terry, former Baptist minister, economics professor, author and Siloam Springs Mayor, died on Sept. 9, a month shy of his 100th birthday.
He was a victim of the covid-19 pandemic, according to his obituary printed in the Sept. 13 edition of Siloam Sunday.
Terry served as a Southern Baptist minister in Northwest Arkansas, Northeast Oklahoma and Texas; a professor of economics and director of development for John Brown University; a U.S. Army veteran of World War II; mayor of Siloam Springs; a columnist for the “Herald-Leader” and “The Northwest Arkansas Times;” and the author of several business books, his obituary states.
“He was as fine a gentleman as I have ever known in my life and I considered him a friend and a confidant,” said Danny Wasson. “I know his family is going to miss him.”
Terry’s early life began in Vandalia, Ill., where he was born to William and Clester Terry on Oct. 8, 1920, his obituary states. He married Fern Stradley in 1942, it states.
Terry served in the U.S. Army from 1942 to 1944 in the Pacific Theater and was awarded a Good Conduct Medal and an Asiatic Pacific Theater medal, Wasson said.
Terry earned a bachelor of arts degree in Bible from John Brown University in 1949 and went on to pastor churches in Mason Valley, Decatur, Ozark and Jay, Okla., and was interim pastor at churches all over Northwest Arkansas and Northeast Oklahoma, Wasson said.
Lynval Abercrombie of Decatur remembers when Terry became full-time pastor of Decatur Baptist Church in 1948, shortly before he graduated from JBU in 1949. During the three to four years Terry spent in Decatur, he concentrated on getting younger people involved in church and organized into groups, Abercrombie said. He held tent revivals in the old city park and was very involved in the community. He also served as the chaplain for Peterson Industries, Abercrombie said.
While Terry was serving Decatur, the church built its first educational building in 1952, which added
See TERRY on Page 2A