My mother passed away this year after a brief battle with stage 4 internal melanoma. True to her nature, she was determined to fight and win that battle. Unfortunately, nature had a different plan.
Over the years, Terri was a camp counselor, a special education teacher, a CEO, a professor, a researcher, a chronic pain advocate, and county ARPA director. She was genuine and unapologetic. She was blunt, direct, and aggressively kind in a matter-of-fact way. Her particular brand of advice-giving was not particularly conversational but, rather, intended to charge a person with a list of directives in a clear, somewhat idealistic, and totally supportive manner. She would often start her counsel with, “You know what you ought to do is…” and then end with, “Use your resources” with a flourish of her hand as if she was shooing away. She modeled independence, self-sufficiency, and resiliency. She would (and often did) give of herself without expectation. She was a helper.
She was adventurous and inquisitive and loved to tell stories about her youthful experiences: She hiked a section of the Appalachian trail, and, not long after, hitchhiked from Montana to Maine just so she could try fresh Maine lobster.
