PORTLAND, OR (March 7, 2007) – Funeral services for one of Dr. Paul Carlson’s fellow captives, Jon Snyder, will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Portland Mennonite Church. Snyder died Sunday from injuries he suffered in a car accident February 28. He was 65.
In a famous photograph published in LIFE Magazine, just one month after Evangelical Covenant Church medical missionary Dr. Paul Carlson was martyred in Congo in 1964, Carlson (at left) is seen peering over the shoulder of Snyder while they and other captives listen to the leader of a rebel group announce that the doctor would be executed. Certain he was going to die, Carlson slipped his copy of the New Testament to Snyder and said, “Please give it to Lois,” his wife.
In a famous photograph published in LIFE Magazine, just one month after Evangelical Covenant Church medical missionary Dr. Paul Carlson was martyred in Congo in 1964, Carlson (at left) is seen peering over the shoulder of Snyder while they and other captives listen to the leader of a rebel group announce that the doctor would be executed. Certain he was going to die, Carlson slipped his copy of the New Testament to Snyder and said, “Please give it to Lois,” his wife.
The execution wasn’t carried out, but rebels killed Carlson on November 24, 1964, as he tried to flee amid the confusion of a rescue attempt. Snyder was a Mennonite serving his alternative service in the Congo. He never met Carlson until the two were held captive by rebels. Carlson had been captured in September, and Snyder was taken just weeks before the rescue attempt.
Snyder proved an important source of information for Rick Carlson when he produced the film, Monganga Paul. “I can’t say enough about how important he was to telling the story,” Carlson says. “He had the unique perspective of being there.”
Carlson’s work continues through the Paul Carlson Partnership.