Thanksgiving day
hayride turns tragic
Word of Life missionary
sacrifices his life for others

David Helwig
CW Ontario Correspondent
ontario@christianweek.org

OWEN SOUND, ON–John MacQueen, a full-time missionary for two-and-a-half years at Word of Life Youth Camp, is being hailed as a hero after a Thanksgiving hayride accident that took his life.

"John made a conscious decision that cost him his life but saved families from being seriously injured," says Gary Stairs, Word of Life Canadian field director.

MacQueen, 44 and father of four, was raised on a farm and experienced at operating heavy equipment. He was also intimately familiar with the terrain at Word of Life's 200-acre Ontario property.

MacQueen and his wife Debbie, each driving a tractor pulling a hay wagon, were taking more than 65 staffers and family members on a Thanksgiving hayride October 8 to enjoy the bright fall day. The couple's children were on Debbie's wagon.

Just minutes from the end of the ride, as the tractors were proceeding back to the dining hall, John and Debbie decided to take different routes, John going down what Stairs describes as an "open slope with thick woods running along the side of a hill."

"As the group descended the hill, the equipment began to slide towards the woods, picking up speed as it slid," Stairs recalls. "In order to stop the slide he jackknifed the tractor."

The tractor rolled, pinning MacQueen underneath. The people on the wagons, including young couples with infants, children and older people, suffered only minor injuries.

"Typical of John MacQueen, he literally gave his life for his friends, instantly entering the presence of his Lord," says Stairs.

The funeral on October 11 at Owen Sound's Evangelical Baptist Church was so large that the street had to be closed. "There were 500 people at the funeral. This man was known everywhere," says Wayne Heikkinen, Word of Life's director for local church ministries in Canada.

"Young people who had been impacted by the MacQueens' service for the Lord came from places as far away as Indiana, Washington, D.C. and New Brunswick," adds Stairs.

Word of Life started its Canadian operations in 1961, and currently has 43 full-time missionaries and 65 Bible Clubs in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Manitoba.