Missionary nurse Mavis Pate had business in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Monday morning. After Sunday’s service at the church on the Baptist hospital compound, she joined a missionary family headed from Gaza to the Israeli border. It was already dark by 5:45 p.m.

Ed Nicholas drove the van with his three daughters in the back. They were on the road for only a few minutes when the van was hit with heavy automatic weapon fire. More than 50 shots were fired at the vehicle, a violent attack by the Palestine Liberation Organization. Ed was hit with a gunshot, but he kept driving. Mavis was critically wounded and lived only three hours after the attack, in spite of doctors’ best efforts to save her.

Her funeral was a reflection of her Christ-centered life and commitment to service. Former patients, fellow missionaries, hospital staff and national friends joined embassy representatives and United Nations relief workers. A missionary friend described her as a thoroughly efficient person and dedicated Christian.

One of Mavis’s student nurses reflected on her continuing legacy: “She went, but just in body. For she still lives in our spirits. She planted the seeds of hard work, honesty and faithfulness in us and these seeds will become the trees of love and peace.”