Chapter Focus: Terry Queen answers the calling to help the pro-life movement in Walton County

Terry Queen answers the calling to help the pro-life movement in Walton County By Patrick Graham

In Proverbs 6, the author, possibly Solomon himself, lists six things the Lord hates or considers an abomination.

One of the first items on the list, found in verse 17, is “hands that shed innocent blood.”

This Bible passage is one Terry Queen often cites when explaining why he is so committed to the pro-life movement and so passionate about the protection of the pre-born.

“I just feel an obligation to help those who can’t help themselves, who can’t stand up for themselves,” Queen said. “I think in some ways I just feel called by God to help save innocent lives.” For all he does locally, across the state, and throughout the nation to follow his calling, The Walton Tribune named Queen a 2019 Unsung Hero.

‘The world would be such a better place if we had more Terry Queens in it.’ – Yvonne Genest, development liaison, Pregnancy Resource Center of Walton

“I just like to inform and educate people about what’s going on,” Queen said. “Sometimes it’s a tough job. I mean, it almost feels like a stand alone job, like you’re a little lonesome sometimes, but it doesn’t stop me from doing what I feel like I am called to do.”

Queen is not alone, however. He has been able to put together a strong coalition of like-minded individuals as the president of the Walton County chapter of Georgia Right to Life. In this capacity, which he has served in since coming back to Monroe in 2008, Queen organizes events and meetings throughout the year to promote the pro-life cause. He makes sure local residents have the latest word on proposed and enacted changes to the law, and how they impact the unborn, infirm, or elderly. Queen has also been on the Board of Directors of the Pregnancy Resource Center of Walton since 2009, and he has been instrumental in the success of that nonprofit organization’s lifeaffirming mission. “He is so life-affirming in every aspect of his life,” Yvonne Genest, longtime executive director and current development liaison for the PRC, said. “Not just in this ministry but in his relationships in the community, his family relationships, his church relationships. He just takes hold of wherever God has placed him and he gives 150%. It is an honor to know him, to serve alongside him, and without him we would not be the ministry we are today. No doubt about that.” Genest said that Queen is one of those rare individuals who makes you a better person just by knowing him. She described him as a caregiver, caretaker, and protector of family, friends, and mission.

“He has so much integrity and his motives are so pure,” Genest said. “The world would be such a better place if we had more Terry Queens in it.” The Rev. Jeff Box, the pastor of Queen’s home church, Walker Baptist Church in Monroe, agreed. Queen attends Walker Baptist with his wife, Nancy. The couple has two adult children, Sammy, 50, and Nell, 47.

“Terry is a faithful servant, someone you can really count on,” Box said. “He is a Godly man and a champion of life at all stages.” Box said he and his wife, Kristie, recently adopted three young children – Colby, Lydia, and Joy – to

join their older two biological children – Dalton and Matthew – as part of their family.

Box said Queen was a tremendous friend who was supportive every step of the way, most importantly when the long process seemed overwhelming at times.

“I can’t think of anyone who would be more deserving of this award than Terry,” Box said. “Even though he is not going to think he deserves it, which is exactly why he does.” Queen was born and raised in Monroe, a selfproclaimed “lint head” from just south of the mill village area of the city. He has three brothers and three sisters, and one of his brothers is his twin, Jerry. They were born in October 1944 in the old Walker Queen Park hospital, with Terry being the younger of the two.

“I’m the little brother by 15 minutes,” Queen said. “He always brought to my attention that he had seniority over me.” Queen went on to get a degree from Southern Technical Institute, which later became Kennesaw State, in 1965. He went to work in the mills locally before working at mills in other parts of the southeast and state. “I can’t think of anyone who would be more deserving of this [Unsung Hero] award than Terry,” Box said. Queen moved back to Monroe in 2008. At that point, he had already been involved in the pro-life movement for a number of years.

“I’ve met some of the most amazing people in the pro-life arena,” Queen said. “I believe locally we are having an impact, and the pendulum is beginning to swing toward our way of thinking. Statewide and nationally is another story, but we have a little bit of impetus now with what is going on in other places like New York and how that is catching everyone’s attention.” Dan Becker, former president of Georgia Right to Life and founder of the pro-life Personhood Alliance, recently told approximately 100 people attending the Walton chapter’s semi-annual meeting how important Queen was to the cause.

“In over 40 years of pro-life activism, I say this sincerely, [Queen] is one of the top 10 pro-life activists I have ever seen,” Becker said. “If we had more Terry Queens, abortion would have already been banned years ago.” Queen said the key to eliminating abortion is changing hearts and minds. It’s even more important than changing the law.

“It’s already against the law to kill somebody, to rob somebody, but that still happens because of what is in people’s hearts,” Queen said. “I want to see hearts change toward the issue of life. I want people to see God has made all of us, that He has a plan for all of us, and that we don’t have a right to change or short circuit that.”

(C) Reprinted by permission of The Walton Tribune (www.waltontribune.com)

Tiny Billboards That Make a Difference

Across Georgia, tiny billboards carry a crucial message. Those who purchase these little ads from the State help fund important services for a particularly vulnerable population – pre-born babies and their mothers who, for any of a myriad of reasons, are not considering motherhood.

These billboards are Choose Life license plates. Over 3,000 plates travel along our highways displaying a meaningful logo and the life-affirming message. Every year, Georgians who purchase the plates create streams of income for pregnancy care centers and clinics where pregnant women of all ages receive holistic help and hope for themselves, their families, and their babies.

Choose Life and other license plates benefit nonprofits by sharing revenue from an annual specialty tag fee. The Choose Life tags first went “on the road” in fall of 2007. To date, over $400,000 has been given to pregnancy care centers to meet pressing needs.

These centers offer women resources they need to make informed decisions about their developing babies. Many offer limited medical services, including prenatal ultrasound imaging. All offer empowering information and tangible supplies. The goal is to show women that carrying a child to term and either parenting or entrusting them to adoptive parents are life-giving and possible options in what can seem like an impossible situation.

Adoption professionals equip staff and front-line volunteers to discuss modern adoption practices accurately. Choose Life of Georgia requires centers receiving funds to provide instruction annually because, while center personnel are comfortable depicting parenting and abortion accurately, presenting adoption is complicated by our culture’s perceptions. Those perceptions are often skewed by the secrecy of previous generations and faulty TV and movie portrayals that cast life-giving options in a negative light.

You can buy Choose Life license plates when you register a recently purchased car, or you can exchange your old tag at renewal time. The Choose Life of Georgia website www.ChooseLifeGA.org has all the details.

The new design for the Choose Life license plates illustrates a trusting child’s hand resting in a loving adult’s -- a warm image of parenting or adoption. Previous versions of the plates display two young children. Response to the new design has been excellent.

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