Terese Michele Fowler

Terese Michele Pelletier was born on August 6, 1945 in Evanston, Illinois. She was born to Vincent Joseph Pelletier from Minneapolis and Edna Johanna Schultz from St. Paul. Teri was born two-and-a-half months premature and was not expected to survive. She was the youngest of four children, with big brother Ed (“Nub”), and sisters Cheri (“Bunny”) and Denise (“Dennee”).

Vincent was a prominent radio announcer for NBC. The Pelletiers had just built themselves a 2-story brick Tudor house in Wilmette, an affluent suburb on Chicago’s North Shore, when Vincent learned that NBC was relocating him to Los Angeles.

In 1946, when Teri was just a year old, the Pelletiers moved out west and into their home on Sunshine Terrace in Studio City. They soon joined the parish at St. Charles Catholic Church in North Hollywood, and the kids would attend St. Charles School.

The Pelletier house was always filled with music. Mom played the piano while dad tinkled on the upper keys. And everyone sang. Mom would arrange popular songs of the day into four-part harmony for herself and the three girls, transcribing each of their parts into their own spiral songbooks. Teri, being the youngest, always sang the highest part.

Teri attended Corvallis, the local all-girls Catholic high school, as did her sisters Dennee and Bunny. Brother Nubby went to the all-boys Catholic high school, Notre Dame in Sherman Oaks. Teri was very devout and at age 15 she joined the convent. She became a novice with the Sisters of Providence in Issaquah, Washington. While there, she injured her back and was sent home and did not return. She graduated from high school in 1964.

Teri was engaged to her high school sweetheart when she met Robert Alan Fowler. Teri was working as an admitting nurse at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Burbank. Alan worked across the street at Disney Studios as one of their first computer programmers. Alan would often go over to the hospital cafeteria for lunch. As he later recalled, one day he noticed a pretty young lady, sidled up to her and said something smooth like “nice whether we’re having.” And that was that!

Teri and Alan were married in the chapel at St. Charles on August 20, 1966. The reception was held at Merrick’s Restaurant, and they honeymooned in Carmel-by-the-Sea on the Monterey Peninsula. Teri had just turned 21.

Teri and Alan got a small two-bedroom apartment on Hermitage Avenue in North Hollywood (now Valley Village). On February 7, 1969, they welcomed their first child, son Richard Alan. Daughter Kari Michele came along three-and-a-half years later, on October 28, 1972. Both kids were born at St. Joe’s.

In 1977, the Fowler family moved to a modest 1,000sf tract house on Lemp Avenue in North Hollywood with a big backyard for a dog. And the family always had a dog: Boots, M/C, Timi, Molly, Toby. The Fowlers joined the local parish, Our Lady of the Holy Rosary in Sun Valley, where Richard and Kari attend school through the 8th grade. Alan ultimately converted to Catholicism.

Teri and Alan were very involved in church and school activities and numerous volunteer organizations: Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, PTA, Knight of Columbus, St. Vincent de Paul, the Red Cross. They counseled wayward kids at Juvenile Hall on weeknights, and taught CCD classes on weekends. Teri also taught ESL at Camellia Avenue School, was an activities coordinator at All Saints Convalescent Home, and joined her mom and sister Bunny playing piano and singing at local retirement homes.

One of Teri’s greatest joys was music. She played the guitar and developed an impressive record collection: Peter Paul & Mary, the Everly Brothers, Dave Brubeck Quartet, Stevie Wonder, the Carpenters, Sergio Mendez and Brazil ‘66, The 5th Dimension, Captain & Tennille, Manhattan Transfer, Barry Manilow, the Doobie Brothers, and many show and movie soundtracks. But what she really loved was classical music: Ravel, Debussy, Stravinski, Prokofiev, Copeland.

In 1980, Teri was diagnosed with schizophrenia and manic depression (later revised to schizo-effective disorder). Early on she underwent multiple rounds of electro-shock therapy. She would be hospitalized countless times over the next three decades, including at Olive View in Sylmar, USC Medical Center, and Camarillo State Hospital.

In the early 2000s, Teri was put on a new regimen of psychiatric mediations that was effective at managing her worst symptoms, essentially giving Teri her life back. While she would struggle with severe depression and anxiety for the rest of her life, she was never hospitalized again. Through it all, some things remained constants in Teri’s life: her love for her family, and her devotion to her Catholic faith, which sustained her in the darkest times when nothing else could.

In 2016, Teri and Alan celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary at their usual spot, the Smoke House restaurant in Burbank. On December 23rd of that year, Alan passed away at the age of 78. Mom remained living in their North Hollywood house with dog Toby, including through Covid.

In 2022, mom fell at home and broke her hip. After weeks of rehab, it became clear that it was no longer safe for her to live on her own. So the decision was made to move her to an assisted living facility. She moved into the Gardens at Park Balboa in Van Nuys where she had her own room and was surrounded by her own things, including many family photos and religious objects. Dog Toby went to live with Kari, and eventually the little house on Lemp Avenue was sold.

The transition to assisted living, and ultimately to memory care, was not easy for Teri. But she was a trooper and adjusted to her new circumstances. It helped that she often took the greatest pleasure in the simplest things: root beer, crunchy tacos, a pastrami sandwich from Art’s Deli, and chocolate!

Teri died peacefully on New Year’s Day 2025 with her two children at her bedside, surrounded by Christmas decorations, and listening to classical music.