OGDEN — Terry Schow says the United States military was good to him.

It paid for his college education. It allowed him to buy a home. It taught him crucial life lessons too numerous to mention here.

So naturally, the longtime Ogdenite and Army veteran says, it’s only right that he’s dedicated his life to giving back to his country and those who served it.

A self-described, “kid from the wrong side of the tracks,” Schow volunteered for the Army right after graduating from Ogden High School in 1967, during the height of the Vietnam War. Schow said he grew up poor in Ogden, attending five different elementary schools because his family was constantly on the move.

With his days as an adolescent dwindling in the spring of ’67, Schow began plotting his next move in life. The military came to mind more than once, but it was a friend named Steve Brantz — and the man’s tales of life in the Army’s Special Forces — that pushed Schow over the edge. The pair worked together unloading boxcars at the old Defense Depot Ogden.

“(Brantz) really had an impact on me,” Schow said. “I remember him talking about jumping out of airplanes, that kind of thing, and I thought, ‘Wow, I want to do something like that.’ But looking back, I don’t think I was the sharpest knife in the drawer because I enlisted in the Army infantry during the middle of the Vietnam War. But the military was a stabilizer for me after having kind of an interesting childhood.”

Schow served with the 25th Infantry Division and 5th Special Forces Group during his tour of duty in Southeast Asia, but it’s his impact after those active-duty days that he’s most known for in Utah.

After retiring from the military, Schow began working in the state of Utah’s Social Services department. It was there he began fighting to revive the state’s Department of Veterans Affairs. The organization had been completely shuttered in 1978 after the unpopular Vietnam War.

“That was a pretty sad day for veterans,” Schow said. “And ultimately, very short-sighted.”

Schow became chair of the state’s Veteran’s Advisory Council, helping to get the office reestablished. In 1991, the Veterans Affairs operation became an office under the Utah Department of Economic Development. Later it became a division under the Utah National Guard. Schow was appointed the outfit’s director in 2001, and in 2007, under former Gov. John Huntsman, Jr., Veterans Affairs became a full department. Schow retired from the director post in 2013 after 35 years with the state.

As director of the VA department, Schow was instrumental in the establishment of the George E. Wahlen Ogden Veterans Home and other homes across the state. With Schow leading the charge, Utah lawmakers and others worked for about half a dozen years to get approval for the Ogden home and to find funding for it. Funding was approved in the 2007 session of the Legislature, and the state spent about $20 million to build it, with the federal government later reimbursing two-thirds of that cost. The home is named for Wahlen, who, until his death in 2009, was Utah’s only living recipient of the Medal of Honor.

Schow also pushed to get a readjustment counseling center for combat veterans in Northern Utah. The center, located on the west side of Washington Boulevard in North Ogden, is a satellite VA facility that offers readjustment counseling for combat veterans, military sexual trauma counseling and grief counseling for families of soldiers killed in combat. Treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, drug and alcohol assessment, and suicide prevention are also provided.

The center is named after former North Ogden Mayor Brent Taylor, who died in Afghanistan in 2018 while serving in the National Guard.

Schow has also been integral in other veterans endeavors, including building a state database to accurately count the number of veterans in Utah and the establishment of the Utah Veterans Cemetery and Memorial Park in Bluffdale.

“Like I’ve said, my life wouldn’t be what it is today without the military,” Schow says matter-of-factly. “I’ve just always thought I should pay it back.”

During his career, Schow has rubbed elbows with many a lawmaker. He said he’s been called a “pest” by more than one of them for his unabashed advocacy, but despite what he calls “constant pushing” he’s made more friends than enemies in government houses locally and nationally.

“I struggle to think of anyone who has contributed more to Utah’s veteran community than my friend, Terry Schow,” said Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah. “Throughout my time in both the State Legislature and Congress, when I’ve wanted to ensure my actions are in tune with the needs of Utah’s veterans, I’ve called Terry. His tireless advocacy has undoubtedly improved the lives of countless veterans across this state.”

But for all the high-profile crusades, Schow is also known to take on issues with a lot less cachet. Schow helped fellow Vietnam veteran and Ogden resident Eugene Morris leave behind years of homelessness and drug abuse.

Schow went to bat for Morris during a 2008 sentencing hearing related to drug charges. Morris was facing prison time, but Schow urged the judge to allow him to enter rehab instead. Morris entered a drug and alcohol treatment program at the First Step House in Salt Lake City and followed his rehab stint with an 18-month transitional program at the Ogden Homeless Veterans Fellowship, which helps homeless veterans find permanent housing. In 2010, with assistance from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Housing Choice Voucher Program, Morris began living in his own home on 28th Street in Ogden.

Morris died in December of 2016, but told the Standard-Examiner earlier that year his life wouldn’t have been the same without Schow.

This story is the first in what will be regular features on Northern Utah veterans. To nominate someone for a profile, send and email to mishaw@standard.net.