She is survived by her husband and three children; Alfred Kenneth Gudka, Jean-Paul Gudka and his spouse Stephanie Gudka, and daughter, Kendra Mareva Gudka-Bedard and her spouse, Daniel Bedard.
Terry was born in Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua on May 20, 1943. Her family moved to Venezuela where she grew up in the coastal area outside Caracas and later, Maracaibo. Terry studied at the Hampton school in Jamaica and graduated from the American high school in Maracaibo. Upon graduating high school, Terry was accepted at SOUTHWEST TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY. It is there that the love story began. Terry Thompson and Joseph Gudka married at the end of May, 1963.
The Gudkas lived in Lafayette Louisiana, Barranquilla Columbia, Bogota Columbia, Panamá and El Salvador before being transferred to the suburbs of Chicago in 1978. They arrived in late June, five months before the worst winter on record (78/79).
Terry made an hour commute every day from Bloomingdale Illinois to Northern Illinois University where she finished her studies and graduated in 1984. The family moved to Houston Texas (The Woodlands) after spending a year on the tropical Island of Guam. After Guam, Terry worked and looked after the family. She retired from a young biotech firm at the end of 1999. During her retirement she helped her husband start his business. With her support and encouragement, Joe made it a great success. The family bought sixty-four acres of land in Rancho Cielo, Lago Vista, Texas where she was able to enjoy the open space and a Texan ranch lifestyle, longhorn cattle included. She was a Texas Woman and a cultivator of friends and good times. Those were some of the best years.
The word grace has several meanings and Terry embodied them all. She was a queen, regal in her unflinching self-worth and elegant presence. She was passionate in life and in her roles as a loving, supportive wife and mother. She taught her children strength and spirituality by example and loved them unconditionally, advising them as needed but never with a heavy hand. Terry was a discerning, loyal and generous friend. Family and friends could find no better or more earnest a listener than she. Her infectious smile, laughter and inner beauty were gifts given to her that she leant to everything she did and every life she graced.
Terry was a beautiful lady who believed in “seeking first to understand and then to be understood.”
She was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s approximately five years ago. Beginning in 2017 she resided in three different Memory care centers. Throughout the journey her demeanor never changed, she was sweet, beautiful and was loved by her caregivers. She passed away after a six month residence at Avalon Memory Care on South Lakeline Drive in Cedar Park, Texas. They get two thumbs up for the care Terry received.
A Memorial Service is planned for 10:00 A.M., Friday, March 6, 2020 at St Mary Our Lady of The Lake in Lago Vista, Texas.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18