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<em>Terrall Martin de Jonckheere</em> was very special to all of us, and he will never be for­gotten. What comes to mind immediately is that, during his 64 years, he did everything right—he truly had the right stuff, and we think you will see that in the following!</p>
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Tom, Terry’s older brother, reflects that: “He was a great little brother whom I shared a room with for almost 15 years while living in New Mexico, Virginia and Ohio in the late forties and early-mid fifties as a military family. In 1959 our father was reassigned, and we moved first to Johnson AFB, Japan, and then to Yokota AFB, Japan—this was the time, during his high school years, when Terry really blossomed. He was an excellent student, a member of the National Honor Society, voted best all around his senior year, and a star athlete—he was All Far East in football and basketball, which was equiva­lent to being selected as All State.” He gradu­ated from Johnson High School in 1962 and then entered West Point on a presidential appointment. During his ca­det years, Terry continued to demonstrate his outstanding athletic and academic abilities as well as military qualities. He was selected as a Cadet lieutenant his final year and then graduated with distinc­tion: top 5% of the class, 25th in graduation order of merit.</p>
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Terry was commissioned an Army second lieutenant in June 1966, achieved the rank of captain, and provided outstanding service to our country as he served in Viet Nam and worked on the Main Battle Tank program while managing to find the time to obtain a master’s degree from California Institute of Technology in mechanical engineering and a master’s degree in business administra­tion from George Washington University. Clearly the highlight during that time, how­ever, was 1970, when he married the lovely Margaret Schrader, whom we all know as Peggy and who, at the time, was an Eastern Airlines flight attendant, and became his lov­ing partner for the last 38 1/2 years. One wonders if Peggy would have believed then the legacy that she was about to become part of and that she profoundly influenced when she reluctantly went out on a blind date with Terry 39 years ago? Behind every great man there is, perhaps, even a greater woman, and that was certainly true in this case.</p>
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In 1972, after six years in the Army, Terry resigned his commission to join Ford Motor Company as an engineer, eventually rising to a position as divisional vice president. During his 30 years with Ford, he had assignments in Michigan, Brazil and Venezuela, with travel and responsibilities that spanned the globe, but, perhaps most importantly, during all that time he became a great father and role model to two wonderful children—a daughter Erin, whom he referred to as “Er-Bear,” and a son Ryan, whom he referred to as “Lad” and “Captain Laptop,” the latter while Ryan was serving two tours in Iraq. He loved them dearly and was so ter­ribly proud of them both.</p>
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Terry officially retired from Ford, as President of Ford South America, in December 2001 at 57 and proceeded to live the good life, with summers in Michigan, winters at their home in Florida, and playing as much golf as Peggy would allow.</p>
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According to his younger brother Richard, “He was someone I looked up to all my life because of his prowess in academics, athletics, and business. He set a high stan­dard for me to live up to.”</p>
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Terry was a man of his convictions, per­haps to the point of being stubborn at times, but he was usually (but not always) right. He was not without some flaws, however—be­ing a little impatient with inefficiency, inde­cisiveness and particularly slow play at golf comes to mind. Terry was bigger than life, normally focused and serious, with a dry sense of humor, but ready to have fun and help or com­ment as need be.</p>
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In February 2008, Terry came down with a rare sub­set of peripheral t-cell Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. For 10 months he battled this disease, never complaining, never saying “Why me?” He was a trooper while undergoing a gruel­ing stem cell transplant and several rounds of chemotherapy, never giving up, always on top of what was going on, always asking questions of his doctors, always taking his medications, always following procedures—one would say a model patient. But, after all that, he succumbed to this dreaded disease and passed away peacefully on 26 Jan 2009, with wife Peggy, daughter Erin, son Ryan, and brother Tom at his side.</p>
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Brother, we all love you and are going to miss you deeply. You will always be in our hearts. Thank you for 64 wonderful years!</p>
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— <em>Tom de Jonckheere ’65, brother.</em> <em>Richard de Jonckheere ’74, brother</em></p>