• Date Of Birth: May 18, 1932
  • Date Of Death: December 11, 2013
  • State: Texas

Garret Terlouw, May 18, 1932 – December 11, 2013.

Col. Garret “Gary” William TerLouw, USAF (retired), died peacefully at home on Wednesday, December 11, 2013 at the age of 81. He was a wonderful and devoted husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather whom we shall greatly miss. Gary was born on May 18, 1932 to John S. and Annette Van der Hart TerLouw in Waupun, Wisconsin.

As Gary’s father was a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church and served different congregations during his career, the family lived at various times in Chicago, Illinois, Steen, Minnesota, Brandon, Wisconsin, Pella, Iowa, and other places where Reverend TerLouw served. He graduated from Brandon High School in 1950 and briefly attended Central College in Pella, Iowa before enlisting in the Air Force in 1951. Not long into his enlistment he was offered the chance to go to officers’ candidate school at Ellington AFB in Pasadena, Texas.

During his training there, he met Lloyd Ray DeShazo, a beautiful young nursing student from St. Joseph’s Hospital. In 1955, Gary and Lloyd Ray (nicknamed “Dude”) were married in Pasadena in a simple ceremony officiated by Gary’s dad. Son Mike was born in 1956, followed by daughter Catherine in 1958. Dad began his career as an officer at Hill AFB, Utah, working as an aircraft performance engineer, moving eventually to service in the early 60’s first as a bombardier aboard B-47 aircraft and later as a navigator on B-52 bombers. When his superb talent as a planner and logistics “wonk” emerged, he became Chief of Bombing and Navigation for the 17th Bomb Wing at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio, and in 1967, he was ordered to Anderson Air Force Base Guam, where he served as Chief Planner and Briefer for ArcLight (B-52 Divisions) in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. In this capacity, he was privileged to brief president-elect Nixon on the state of the strategic bombing campaign. He went on to serve at SAC headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska, did a stint as Director of Intelligence at U-Tapao AFB, Thailand and from there, he was sent to Washington where he ultimately served in the National Security Agency as Director of Operational Intelligence; in that role, he became involved in assessing global military threats and working in various espionage and disinformation projects aimed at the Soviet Union.

He was recommended for promotion to brigadier general to serve on the NATO staff of General Alexander Haig, and though he was approved for the promotion and the position, he opted to retire in 1977. After retirement, Gary and Ray, now empty-nesters, moved to Texas to be near Ray’s relatives. When Ray’s father retired to the family farm near Rosebud, the two of them followed him out to Central Texas, where they built a house on Lake Belton. Not long thereafter, they discovered a spiritual home at First United Methodist Church there, where they have been members since 1978. Dad really relished the change from Cold War to church suppers, from target analysis to groundskeeping, from Soviet spying to singing in the choir. He never looked back, and could not imagine a better life than that which the two of them had found in service to friends and community through their church.

Gary is survived by his wife Lloyd Ray, her brother Dan DeShazo of Rosebud, his sister Etta Hesselink and husband John of Holland, Michigan, sister-in-law Marion TerLouw of Waupun, Wisconsin, his brother John TerLouw and wife Jane of Tallahassee, Florida, his daughter Catherine TerLouw and husband Mark Hawley of Hot Springs, Arkansas, and son Michael TerLouw and wife Janet of Houston . He is survived as well by two grandchildren: Jennifer TerLouw, Michelle TerLouw Hurtado and her husband Matt, along with their son (Gary’s great-grandchild) Lucas Hurtado. He is also survived by two nieces, Denise Kaczorowski and Diane Kato of Floresville, Texas and a nephew Dane DeShazo, his wife Yang Sun and two grand nieces Nancy Sun and Danielle DeShazo of Houston.

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