Terry Lee Mazur was born to Walter (Wally) and Dorothy (Kaiser) Mazur on July 11, 1952. He had an older sister, Connie, and a younger brother, Garry. Terry was raised in Omaha, Nebraska. He attended Adams Elementary School, Nathan Hale Junior High School, and Benson High School. He grew up in the Still Meadows neighborhood in northwest Omaha.

Terry and Terri met their senior year in high school. They dated throughout the year, graduating in 1970. Terry loved working on his prized possession, his 1966 red Plymouth Fury. He loved that car. Terry worked at gas stations, door companies – preparing and installing the hardware and windows in doors for commercial use, roofing companies, and odd jobs around the apartment complex to reduce the rent.

Terry and Terri married on January 20, 1971. They had their first child, Michele Lynn, in April 1973. She had her daddy wrapped around her little finger. They build their first house in Waterloo, Nebraska and moved in April 1975. Randy Lee was born in February of 1976.

Their next-door neighbor had children the same age and was a member of the Waterloo Fire Department. He
invited Terry to a meeting and Terry liked the idea of helping others and joined the department. Shortly after joining, the Waterloo area had a major flood and the fire department was called to duty for many days, rescuing flood victims and monitoring the situation. The fire families were called on to feed victims and first responders at the station. After that, Terry was hooked.

Terry took medical training and was an EMT at the time of his accident. On July 12 around 11:30 p.m., the tones went off for a personal injury accident call. The fire station sat right next to the train tracks, with the street running parallel to the tracks. As the squad left the station, it was slightly in front of a single engine train going the same direction. The squad made a right turn to cross the tracks. The tracks did not have cross arms and the squad was struck by a single engine train. With the lights and sirens running, it was determined that the engine was too close to be seen and the squad lights were reflecting on the crossbar sign – the only warning of the approaching train.

The volunteer firefighters in front, Steve Campbell and Sterling Embrey, were killed on impact. Terry and two others, Bill Sander and Bryon Ueckert, were in the back of the squad. Terry was in a coma for three days
before succumbing to his injuries. He died on the day of Steve and Sterling’s funeral. Bill and Bryon both survived.

Terry would have been very proud of the family he and Terri started. Michele lives in Valley, NE and has two children, Jacob and Miranda. Randy and his wife, Renae, reside in Papillion and have three children, Emily, Blake and Kylie. Randy is a member of the Omaha Fire Department.