Daniel W. Terhune
July 1st, 1925 - February 25th, 2024
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Daniel's Obituary
Daniel Webster Terhune, 98, died at Corewell Health Watervliet, Michigan on 25 February, 2024 due to a fall.
Born in 1925 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Dan was raised in nearby Westfield where his parents, Walter Symmes Terhune and Anna (Reynolds) Terhune and 4 siblings were active in the Park Street Chapel, a Plymouth Brethren Assembly. Those years of regular involvement in Sunday School, the Young People’s Group and regular worship provided the scaffold for his life- long commitment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ which never wavered. As a youth he loved hunting, fishing and crabbing on the Atlantic shore. He particularly excelled at 3 meter diving.
Typical of the Greatest Generation, the WW2 war effort prompted him to drop out of Westfield High School and join the Marine Corps. After being medically discharged in 1944 due to an eye condition he returned to finish high school at Wheaton Academy, Illinois. There he met a girl from the mountains of Kentucky, Joy Eleanor Sturgill, beginning a courtship that would last 4 years and eventually a marriage that endured 69 years. Romantic interests did not deter Dan’s pursuit of military service. He enlisted in the Navy in 1945, serving throughout the Pacific with Air Group 15, aboard the aircraft carrier USS Antietam as a navigator/gunner in the back seat of the SB2C Helldiver. While aboard ship he earned his GED and maintained his postal courtship with Joy. Immediately after being honorably discharged in 1947 he drove to Kentucky and shared his decision to further his education with Joy, placing a ring on her finger which she never removed. After their marriage in 1948, he attended Taylor University, Wheaton College, and earned his degree from Howard Payne College 1953.
They settled in western Kentucky where Dan worked for Standard Oil while pursuing a master’s degree in education from Murray State University. He later worked as a personnel officer for the Kentucky Department of Highways, Personnel Director for the Kentucky Department of Education in Frankfort and finished his career as Chief of Training at the Bluegrass Army Depot in Richmond, Kentucky. During these years he was active in the Navy League at the state and national level. He was instrumental in the founding of the Aviation Museum of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky and obtaining naval aircraft as exhibits. After retirement Dan and Joy remained in Kentucky until 2015 when Joy’s health issues prompted their moving closer to family in St. Joseph, Michigan. Since Joy’s passing that same year, Dan has lived near his son David in Watervliet, Michigan, presiding as the unapologetic patriarch of the Terhune clan with 4 living grandchildren and 17 great grandchildren. They will remember him as a loving servant of God and lifetime supplier of camp transportation, fishing trips, office supplies, hugs, Christmas presents, ice cream cones and original poetry for special occasions. He taught 2 generations how to fish and kept many a tackle store in business.
Dan and Joy had 2 sons, David and Paul, both born during their college years. They also raised their grandson from 11 months old, CPT Eric Daniel Terhune who was killed in action Afghanistan, 19 June 2008.
Preceding Dan in death include his wife Joy (Sturgill) Terhune, his parents, Walter and Anna (Reynolds) Terhune, brother Paul Jackson Terhune, sisters Naomi Robison, Beatrice Hansgen, his son CDR Paul H. Terhune, USNR, and grandson Capt Eric D. Terhune, USMC.
Survivors include his son David Terhune (Dorothy) Watervliet, Michigan: brother Walter Symmes Terhune, Jr. (Marjorie), The Villages, Florida; granddaughters Susannah Jeromin (Oliver) Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Kendall Colquitt (Richard), Kalamazoo, Michigan, Rebecca Stam (Benjamin) Byron Center, Michigan and grandson David Terhune, Jr. (Lindsay), Wheaton, Illinois and 17.6 great grandchildren.
Visitation will be held at Starks & Menchinger Chapel, 2650 Niles Road, St. Joseph, Michigan on Sunday 10 March 2-4 P.M. and Monday March 11 at 10:00 A.M. at the Christian Reformed Church of St. Joseph, Michigan with memorial service at 11:00. A military graveside service will occur 15 April at Camp Nelson National Cemetery, Nicholasville, Kentucky. Those wishing to sign Daniel’s Memory Book online may do so at www.starks-menchinger.com.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to Scripture Memory Mountain Mission, P.O. Box 129, Emmalena, Kentucky 41740
Born in 1925 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Dan was raised in nearby Westfield where his parents, Walter Symmes Terhune and Anna (Reynolds) Terhune and 4 siblings were active in the Park Street Chapel, a Plymouth Brethren Assembly. Those years of regular involvement in Sunday School, the Young People’s Group and regular worship provided the scaffold for his life- long commitment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ which never wavered. As a youth he loved hunting, fishing and crabbing on the Atlantic shore. He particularly excelled at 3 meter diving.
Typical of the Greatest Generation, the WW2 war effort prompted him to drop out of Westfield High School and join the Marine Corps. After being medically discharged in 1944 due to an eye condition he returned to finish high school at Wheaton Academy, Illinois. There he met a girl from the mountains of Kentucky, Joy Eleanor Sturgill, beginning a courtship that would last 4 years and eventually a marriage that endured 69 years. Romantic interests did not deter Dan’s pursuit of military service. He enlisted in the Navy in 1945, serving throughout the Pacific with Air Group 15, aboard the aircraft carrier USS Antietam as a navigator/gunner in the back seat of the SB2C Helldiver. While aboard ship he earned his GED and maintained his postal courtship with Joy. Immediately after being honorably discharged in 1947 he drove to Kentucky and shared his decision to further his education with Joy, placing a ring on her finger which she never removed. After their marriage in 1948, he attended Taylor University, Wheaton College, and earned his degree from Howard Payne College 1953.
They settled in western Kentucky where Dan worked for Standard Oil while pursuing a master’s degree in education from Murray State University. He later worked as a personnel officer for the Kentucky Department of Highways, Personnel Director for the Kentucky Department of Education in Frankfort and finished his career as Chief of Training at the Bluegrass Army Depot in Richmond, Kentucky. During these years he was active in the Navy League at the state and national level. He was instrumental in the founding of the Aviation Museum of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky and obtaining naval aircraft as exhibits. After retirement Dan and Joy remained in Kentucky until 2015 when Joy’s health issues prompted their moving closer to family in St. Joseph, Michigan. Since Joy’s passing that same year, Dan has lived near his son David in Watervliet, Michigan, presiding as the unapologetic patriarch of the Terhune clan with 4 living grandchildren and 17 great grandchildren. They will remember him as a loving servant of God and lifetime supplier of camp transportation, fishing trips, office supplies, hugs, Christmas presents, ice cream cones and original poetry for special occasions. He taught 2 generations how to fish and kept many a tackle store in business.
Dan and Joy had 2 sons, David and Paul, both born during their college years. They also raised their grandson from 11 months old, CPT Eric Daniel Terhune who was killed in action Afghanistan, 19 June 2008.
Preceding Dan in death include his wife Joy (Sturgill) Terhune, his parents, Walter and Anna (Reynolds) Terhune, brother Paul Jackson Terhune, sisters Naomi Robison, Beatrice Hansgen, his son CDR Paul H. Terhune, USNR, and grandson Capt Eric D. Terhune, USMC.
Survivors include his son David Terhune (Dorothy) Watervliet, Michigan: brother Walter Symmes Terhune, Jr. (Marjorie), The Villages, Florida; granddaughters Susannah Jeromin (Oliver) Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Kendall Colquitt (Richard), Kalamazoo, Michigan, Rebecca Stam (Benjamin) Byron Center, Michigan and grandson David Terhune, Jr. (Lindsay), Wheaton, Illinois and 17.6 great grandchildren.
Visitation will be held at Starks & Menchinger Chapel, 2650 Niles Road, St. Joseph, Michigan on Sunday 10 March 2-4 P.M. and Monday March 11 at 10:00 A.M. at the Christian Reformed Church of St. Joseph, Michigan with memorial service at 11:00. A military graveside service will occur 15 April at Camp Nelson National Cemetery, Nicholasville, Kentucky. Those wishing to sign Daniel’s Memory Book online may do so at www.starks-menchinger.com.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to Scripture Memory Mountain Mission, P.O. Box 129, Emmalena, Kentucky 41740
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