Published January 22, 2009

Amid inauguration hoopla, man buries his brother

By Robin Washington
Duluth News Tribune

ARLINGTON, Va. — Except for a casual mention I'll get to later, this story has nothing to do with the Northland or Minnesota. It's not about anyone you'd probably know or will ever meet.

But it's about the human condition, our frailties and vulnerabilities; the moments of pride and love and loss we know too well.

"There were 500 people there. There were admirals," Steve Terry of Fallon, Nev., said of an event on Inauguration Day. "We had a whole lot of military brass and four police cars in front of us that ran the blockade."

But it wasn't a ride-along in the president's motorcade or even the swearing-in that drew Terry clear across the country. Instead, he came to bury his brother.

"He was the chief of chaplains for the United States Navy," he said of Harold A. Terry, 46, a career military man and Gulf War veteran.

In a Northern California family of nine siblings, Harold Terry took the military route after getting in trouble with the law, his brother said. He soon found his calling as an officer and a minister — and one who believed and lived the words he preached, he said.

"He had a sense of humor," Steve said, relating a childhood incident in which his brother offered him some leaves for — there's no delicate way to put it — outdoor hygiene on a camping trip.

"It turned out to be poison oak. He wasn't allergic to the stuff, but I was!" Steve Terry said.

Yet Harold Terry was serious about his religion and respectful of other faiths, a crucial attribute for the chaplain of chaplains, who leaves a wife and grown children.

Scheduled for Jan. 20, officials briefly thought of delaying the funeral a week to avoid the obvious conflict but decided against it.

"He's such a great guy," Steve said in present tense, then changing it: "I can't believe he's gone."

So was it a roadside bomb or ambush in Iraq? No. Harold had retired a few years ago, though he still did military work. It was a car accident. Such deaths usually merit little notice beyond a mourning family, though this one earned a military salute.

The Minnesota bit? Hearing where I'm from, Steve said: "I must have seen that movie 'Fargo' a hundred times. It's based on a true story, right?"

"No. They lied," I said, feeling bad about bursting his bubble.

But on a day of such loss and hope — he, like thousands here, expressed optimism and faith in President Obama — I'm sure he'll pull through.

Robin Washington is news director of the News Tribune. He may be reached at rwashington @ duluthnews.com.