Memories. . .Reunion. . .Memories

This is the last in the Quad series. Hope it stirs some desire in all of you to reunite.This is Terri, one of Jacki's and my roommates from '73-'74 at Ricks. She was the smart one. . .
But was also up for lots of fun and frivolity. I think we are probably modeling some of Tybee's ballroom dance jewelry.
Terri wrote to Mark for the whole two years at Ricks. He was on a mission to some Spanish-speaking country. I was so prepared to beat him up if he came home and broke her heart. He saved me from life as a fugutive - because they were married in 1974. Terri and Mark then went to BYU where Mark was studying pre-med.
In 1977 Terri and I met up with Tybee, who was at BYU, and Donna, who lived in Salt Lake, and had a mini-reunion. We were just missing Karen and Jacki.
Then in 1978 I passed through Provo and again met with Terri and Tybee. By this time Terri had 2 kids and Tybee was expecting her first.

Terri was the one roommate that I have had the most contact with through the years. We've exchanged letters, family pictures, etc. A couple of times when I would have a layover in Salt Lake on my way to Montana, Terri and Mark would meet me at the airport so we could catch up. The last time we met at the airport Mark was pushing Terri in a wheelchair. She had been hit by a car as she was walking on the sidewalk with one of their sons. Their son was fine, but the impact caused damage to Terri's already weak spine and broke her leg.

Several years ago I got a phone call from Terri. We hadn't actually talked to each other in probably 10 years or more. We just picked right up like it was yesterday. Although I would send Terri cards, I later learned that her eyesight was causing her problems, thus the phone calls instead of letters were better for her.

Thanksgiving of 2006 I was talking to Terri and said, "We should have a roommate reunion." Her response was, "If I live that long." That was the last conversation I had with Terri. I mailed my Christmas card and was going to talk to her after the new year.

In January of 2007 I got a package from "Mark and Terri" in the mail. Terri had passed away December 30, 2006. The package is something that I treasure and use all the time. It included journal entries from both Terri and her mother, the talks that Mark and their sons gave at her funeral and lots of other writings, including Terri's testimony.

When I met Terri she walked with a limp and had some problems with her right hand that made her learn to do things left-handed. All we really heard was she had headaches when she was younger, they found a tumor at the base of the head, took the tumor out, put a rod in her back and her she is. As my roommate and friend Terri never asked for any special treatment - was just one of the girls. But there was a part in all of us that felt that protective instinct towards her. Reading parts of her mother's journal made me ache for this family and this little girl. She endured so much, but even in the hospital at that young age she still had such a sense of humor. Her mother said Terri "would cover up her anxiety and pain with a joke or a smile."
In 2002 more growths and spots were found on Terri's brain stem and head. She said "she won the war against cancer because she was able to live 40 plus years with a mostly lethal tumor."

My reunion with Terri will be later. Terri got the last laugh - remember the shy cowboy from the rodeo team that I had a crush on (but no pictures of)? Well, he was Terri's stake president and was presiding at her funeral. There's another story about that, but you have to be at the reunion to hear it.

"Life, I have learned, is in the living of every day and every hour. Happiness is not rushing to the future, but respecting the now. Happiness is the creation of pleasant memories." Terri, 1975

Let's make MORE pleasant memories and come to the reunion. Love you all loads!!!