Terry Queen, champion of the unborn, passes away

Terry Queen, champion of the unborn and leader of the pro-life movement locally, died Sunday after a hard-fought battle with cancer. He was 78.

Queen was the longtime president of the Walton County chapter of Georgia Right to Life and board member for the Pregnancy Resource Center of Walton.

Queen was well known locally and across the state for his passion to protect those who could not protect themselves, to speak for those could not speak for themselves and to stand for those who could not stand for themselves.

“He has been such a champion for the unborn, for personhood,” Carol Fairman, executive director for the resource center, said. “So many lives have been saved, so many generations have been impacted, because he was so passionate. He is truly going to be missed.”

The Rev. Jeff Box, the pastor of Queen’s home church, Walker Baptist Church in Monroe, could not agree more. Queen attended Walker Baptist with his wife, Nancy. The couple has two adult children, Sammy and Nell.

“He was one of the best men I have ever known,” Box said in a social media post about Queen’s passing. “He was a true servant of our Lord, never hesitant to put his hands to the plow of service. He was a champion for life, a passionate warrior on behalf of the unborn… please pray for his precious wife, Nancy, and their children and grandchildren.”

Queen was born and raised in Monroe, a self-proclaimed “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 was his twin, Jerry, who passed away in December 2019.

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. Queen moved back to Monroe in 2008 and at that point had already been involved in the pro-life movement for a number of years.

Queen’s efforts in the pro-life movement locally were recognized by The Walton Tribune in 2019 when Queen was named an Unsung Hero by the paper. Unsung Heroes are individuals who are doing tremendous good in the community but often don’t get the recognition they deserve for those efforts.

“I just feel an obligation to help those who can’t help themselves, who can’t stand up for themselves,” Queen said in a story revealing the Unsung Hero award to the community . “I think in some ways I just feel called by God to help save innocent lives.”

Queen lived to see passage of Georgia’s anti-abortion Heartbeat Bill by state leaders and the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court. Queen celebrated both as positive moves in the right direction for the pro-life cause, but lamented neither went far enough in completely eliminating the killing of the unborn.

Dan Becker, former president of Georgia Right to Life and the founder of the pro-life Personhood Alliance, once summed up Queen’s importance to the cause this way.

“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 organized regular meetings of the local Georgia Right to Life chapter and brought in featured speakers from across the state and sometimes country to address the chapter. He also organized the annual Life Chain event in downtown Monroe, with hundreds of local residents gathering each year to stand and pray for the end of abortion.

Queen also worked tirelessly for many years to promote and fund raise for the Pregnancy Resource Center of Walton and Women’s Health and Wellness Clinic it operates.  

At the time of his award, Yvonne Genest, former longtime executive director for the PRC, said of Queen, “He is so life-affirming in every aspect of his life. 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 percent. It is an honor to know him, to serve the Lord alongside him and without him we would not be the ministry we are today. No doubt about that.”

Like Becker, Genest said, “The world would be such a better place if we had more Terry Queens in it.”

Visitation for Queen will be 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday at Meadows Funeral Home in Monroe. His funeral will be at 11 a.m. Friday at Walker Baptist Church in Monroe. Meadows is in charge of the arrangements.