RICHMOND, Va. (BP)–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 Yemen Dec. 30 by a lone gunman.
The others who have been 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
Mary Anna Gilbert, China, killed in crash of hijacked Chinese jetliner in Guangzhou, China (teacher with Cooperative Services International).
— 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 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.
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