Friends and family on Sunday described slain Durango dentist Tom Grams as a rare individual who found a way to combine his two great passions: helping others and living an adventurous life in far-flung reaches of the globe.

Grams, 51, treated tens of thousands of people throughout the Third World who had never before seen a toothbrush or had access to dental care.

He took risks where others would not, pushing to go far off the beaten path on his many humanitarian missions.

And he made a last-minute decision to join a medical mission to an isolated Afghan valley that ended in tragedy Thursday when he and nine other volunteers were gunned down while returning to Kabul.

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