Florence foreign missionary dies in Peru

Well-known Florence foreign missionary Tommy Head was laid to rest Monday in Peru following a motorcycle accident Saturday in Pucallpa.

Tommy and his wife, Angela, served with Living Water International program in Peru. It was their job to drill freshwater wells for the distant villages of the Amazon.

The Rev. Greg Stuckey is a good friend of the Heads. Stuckey is missions pastor at The Church at Sandhurst, a sponsor of the Heads’ ministry.

“This past Saturday the news of Tommy’s death on a motorcycle in Peru swept through faster than the blazes at the Grand Strand,” Stuckey said Monday. “Everyone who heard the news was in a state of disbelief.

“As tears were being shed here in Florence and around the United States, tears were also flowing in Amazonian villages as the news got to them by satellite phone, canoes or on foot.”

But Stuckey said there is a smile for every tear for those who truly knew Tommy.

“Just about everyone in the Florence area or the Peruvian Amazon has a Tommy story,” he said. “This local Florence man was as far away from the conventional as anyone could be.”

After coming to faith in Christ, Tommy and Angela began a path of faithfulness that led them to serve as missionaries in the jungles of Peru, Stukey said.

“Meeting their vital need of safe water gave Tommy and those working with him the platform to present the Gospel, while Angela (a nurse) administered much-needed medical care to the villagers,” he said.

In a sense, though, Stuckey said Tommy’s story is a rags to riches to rags to riches story.

“Tommy arose from a background of unwise choices as a young man to becoming the manager at the La-Z-Boy plant in Florence,” Stuckey said, “then to missionary service in the Amazon. And now he is ‘jamming with Jesus,’ as succinctly stated by Angela.”

Stuckey said the corporate ladder held no meaning to Tommy because it wasn’t a priority in this life.

“Tommy could always be found in his tie-dyed T-shirt, jeans and flip-flops,” Stuckey said. “Whether he was drilling wells, speaking to churches in America or in a corporate boardroom, he wore the same clothes.”

Stuckey said Tommy held no advanced degrees and never went to seminary, but his love and hunger for the Bible were insatiable.

“There are not many theologians that would care to match wits with him, but Tommy believed theology is not for being intellectually impressive but for driving us to love people the way Christ does,” Stuckey said. “That very same intensity led him to begin taking part in motocross racing.”

Next to soccer, motocross is a popular sport in Peru. The racing led to relationships with others that eventually gave way to the founding of Thousand Palms Church in Pucallpa.

It was on the track in Pucallpa during a practice session that the accident that claimed Tommy’s life took place.

But Stuckey said through conversations that have taken place over the years with his friends, his brother Glen and Angela, this is not to be seen as a sad day.

“How often does one get to die doing what he loves to do?” Stuckey questioned. “Tommy loved to serve wholeheartedly.”

Meanwhile, a memorial celebration will be announced to take place at The Church at Sandhurst in the very near future. Tie-dyed T-shirts and flip-flops will be just fine.

— Staff writer Dwight Dana can be reached at (843) 317-7259.
— Comment on this story at scnow.com.