contranemesis

Dr. Hilton Pack Terrell, 63 of Florence, died Monday, February 2, 2009 in McLeod hospital after a brief illness.

Dr. Terrell was born in Fort Worth, TX, a son of the late Lake E. Terrell, Jr, and Alma Pack Terrell. He was raised in Sumter, SC. Dr. Terrell received a BS, MA, & PhD all from the University of South Carolina and a MD from the Medical University of South Carolina. He served three years in a residency program in a Family Practice in Anderson, SC, practiced for one year in St. George, SC, and six years in Sumter, SC, before coming to Florence in 1985 to be on the faculty at McLeod Regional Medical Center in the Family Practice Residency Program.

Dr. Terrell was the President-Elect of the Association of American Physicians & Surgeons (AAPS) and was the past editor of the Journal of Biblical Ethics in Medicine. He also was employed by Palmetto Infusion of Florence. He was a member of Faith Presbyterian Church (PCA) of Florence, where he was a Past Elder and Sunday School Teacher, and he taught Biology from 2007-2008 at The King's Academy.

Surviving are his wife of 42 years, Marcia Slagle Terrell of the home; three children, Dr. Timothy David Terrell of Greer, SC, Amanda T. (Deason) Smith of Piedmont, SC, Dr. Eric S. (Rebekah) Terrell of Florence; a brother, Lake Eric (Margaret) Terrell, III, Jacksonville, FL; a sister, Elaine T. (George) Goosmann of Asheville, NC; six grandchildren, Elizabeth Terrell, Julia Ruth Terrell, William Terrell, Alex Smith, Joshua Smith, and Benjamin Smith.

Funeral services will be held at 1:30 PM Thursday, February 5, 2009 in the First Presbyterian Church in Florence. Burial will follow at 3:30 PM Thursday in the Gable Cemetery near Gable, SC, directed by Stoudenmire-Dowling Funeral Home of Florence.

In Lieu of Flowers, memorials may be made to the McLeod Foundation, PO Box 100551, Florence, SC 29501 or to Faith PCA Church, 1800 Third Loop Road, Florence, SC 29501.

The family will receive friends from 7:00-9:00 PM Wednesday, February 4, 2009, at the funeral home.

My eulogy:
One of Dr. Terrell's heroes, R. L. Dabney, a theologian who served as Stonewall Jackson's chief of staff and biographer, wrote about his death before the end of the War that God had spared General Jackson the tragedy of seeing the defeat of the South. Perhaps Dr. Terrell has been spared seeing the final defeat of private medicine.

Dr. Terrell was a man of intensity, of intense love. He had an intense love for his God, whom He knew personally. He loved God and he loved God's Word, and he wanted others to share that love. He was a dedicated student of God's Word.

Dr. Terrell was a man of intense love for his family. He loved his wife and his children, and they sit here today as evidence of that love. He reared his children in the fear of God, and they are all successful in their walk with Jesus and in their accomplishments.

Dr. Terrell was a man of intense love for his work. He loved teaching and he loved practicing medicine. He was intense in his peculiar approach to the limitations of medicine, as many here can attest to.

He was a man of intense love for his State, for his boat and the sea, for his palms and citrus. On our last trip together last year, we stopped to visit a man in Louisiana with a large selection of citrus. He examined every leaf and every genealogy of those citrus trees.

But Dr. Terrell was also a man intense in his disdain, not for people but for false ideas. He disdained false views of medicine particularly. He restrained himself, but woe to the opponent who failed to notice the rising redness appear above his collar to cover his whole face, until he exploded with the attack, setting that barb right in the center of the false argument.

{[ Dr. Terrell had achieved a rare sense of peace about his work. He understood for years what I have only begun to understand: that medicine is no source of truth, that we are very limited in what we can do for a suffering person. He arrived at this conclusion because he was not content to limit his understanding of the good news of salvation to its initial acceptance but sought to bring every thought captive to Christ. He wanted to hear how God's Word governed our life and work. He bemoaned preaching that failed to spur us to better works and understanding.]}

We were to have gone together this weekend to the AAPS Board meeting. You have heard mention of this organization already from Dr. Payne. Dr. Terrell had the utmost respect for these people. They did not share his theological convictions nor have his comprehensive view of the limitations of medicine. He respected their patient persistence in fighting what to him seemed a hopeless battle for free medicine. They obviously respected him as he was president-elect.

I had thought to read or sing to you Psalm 90, a Psalm we discussed much for its implications for medicine. But as that has already been read, I will read Ps 15.

1

LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle?
Who may dwell in Your holy hill?

2

He who walks uprightly,
And works righteousness,
And speaks the truth in his heart;

3

He who does not backbite with his tongue,
Nor does evil to his neighbour,
Nor does he take up a reproach against his friend;

4

In whose eyes a vile person is despised,
But he honours those who fear the LORD;
He who swears to his own hurt and does not change;

5

He who does not put out his money at usury,
Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things shall never be moved.

Dr. Terrell was an immovable man.