Terry Sidney Johnson Sr.

Terry Sidney Johnson, Sr., age 78, of Orlando, Florida passed away on Thursday, July 7, 2022. Terry was born August 16, 1943 in Beaumont, Texas. The funeral and committal service to celebrate the life of Terry Sidney Johnson, Sr. will be held 12:45 PM at Houston National Cemetery on Monday, July 18, 2022. The family is being assisted by Forest Park South Funeral Home 12650 Shadow Creek Parkway, Pearland, Texas 77584 (832)553-0160. Please visit www.ForestParkSouthFuneralHome.com to leave a message of condolence for the family.

HIS STORY BEGINS ON THE 16TH DAY OF AUGUST IN 1943 -WHEN A BOUNCING BABY BOY ENTERED THE WORLD AND THE AWAITING ARMS OF PARENTS LEONTINE AND SIDNEY JOHNSON IN BEAUMONT, TEXAS WHOM THEY WOULD NAME, TERRY. HE WOULD BE THE ELDEST OF TWO SONS BORN TO THIS UNION...THE OTHER BEING JERRY.

HIS FATHER, WITH WHOM HE CLASHED WITH MOST TIMES, WAS A BUS DRIVER FOR THE SCHOOL DISTRICT, AS HIS MOTHER OPERATED A NEIGHBORHOOD FAMILY STORE WHICH TERRY WOULD HELP OUT WITH A LOT. PERHAPS HIS MOTHER IMPARTED INTO HIS LIFE A WILLINGNESS TO SERVE, AS SHE SERVED THE NEIGHBORHOOD BY NOT ONLY PROVIDING GROCERIES AND THINGS IN HER STORE, BUT SHE WOULD EXTEND CREDIT TO CUSTOMERS WHO COULD NOT PAY AT THE TIME THEY NEEDED THINGS.

SO, TERRY SPENT MOST OF HIS CHILDHOOD IN THE BEAUMONT AREA ATTENDING ALL BEAUMONT SCHOOLS INCLUDING FRENCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL.

WHAT SEEMED TO SET TERRY’S COURSE WAS, IN TALKING WITH HIS FATHER ONE DAY ABOUT HIS FUTURE, HE TOLD HIS DAD THAT HE WAS THINKING ABOUT JOINING THE NAVY.....AND HIS DAD WAS LIKE “YEAH, O.K. SON...RIGHT?”

WELL, TERRY DECIDED TO CAL HIS DAD’S BLUFF AND WENT DOWN AND VISITED WITH A RECRUITER.....HIS DAD WOULD COME TO KNOW THAT HE WAS SERIOUS WHEN HE HAD TO GO SIGN OFF FOR TERRY TO ENLIST BECAUSE HE WAS ONLY 17 YEARS OF AGE....THE REALITY OF HIS SON LEAVING HOME, HIT HIS DAD PRETTY HARD, BECAUSE NOW TERRY WAS LEAVING HOME AND, PERHAPS TO NEVER RETURN.

BUT IT SEEMS AS THOUGH MILITARY SERVICE SUITED HIM PRETTY WELL BECAUSE HE WOULD END UP SERVING IN (4) FOUR DIFFERENT CONFLICTS......THE CYPRESS UPRISING, DOMINICAN UPRISING, BAY OF PIGS AND VIETNAM....ALL OVER A SPAN OF 11 YEARS.

IT WAS WHILE SERVING AND STATIONED NEAR PENSACOLA, FLORIDA THAT HE WOULD MEET A LOVELY YOUNG LADY THAT WOULD BECOME HIS WIFE IN MAY OF 1963...

THE SUN WOULD SHINE ON HEART AS A THOUSAND YEARS WHEN ON FEBRUARY 13, 1964 HE BECAME A DAD AND WELCOMED A BABY WHOM HE WOULD NAME SHARON INTO THE FAMILY. A FEW YEARS LATER, ON MARCH 18TH OF 1968, HE WELCOMED A SON TERRY, WHO WAS NAMED AFTER HIM.

TERRY’S PERSONALITY WAS ONE OF AN EXTROVERT, OUTGOING, OPINIONATED.....BUT HE WAS A GENTLEMAN...A PEOPLE’S PERSON AND A JOY TO BE AROUND.....THE BEST OF HIM SORT OF DISSAPATED BECAUSE OF THE MANY CONFLICTS THAT HE HAD BEEN INVOLVED IN, IN THE MILITARY....BUT HE ALWAYS MAINTAINED HIS SENSE HUMOR.

TERRY GOT MOST OF HIS TRAVELING IN WHILE SERVING IN THE NAVY AND SO GOING ON FAR AWAY TRIPS FOR VACATION DIDN’T SEEM TO BE A BIG DEAL BECAUSE HE HAD SEEN MUCH OF THE WORLD. BUT.....IF YOU EVER TALKED WITH HIM AND ASKED HIM HIS MOST FAVORITE PLACE TO VISIT...HE WOULD SAY BARCELONA SPAIN, BECAUSE HE WAS IN PORT THERE FOR A WHILE...PERHAPS IT WAS THE BEAUTY OF THE COUNTRY, THE SPANISH LANGUAGE SPOKEN, THE FOOD, CULTURE AND HISTORY...WHAT’S FOR SURE IS THAT TERRY LOVED THE PLACE.

ONE WEEKEND WHILE IN PORT THERE, HE DECIDED TO GO OUT ON THE TOWN...(YOU KNOW HOW SOME NAVY MEN DO) AND SORT OF STRUCK UP A CONVERSATION WITH (2) TWO OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BARCELONIAN LADIES THAT YOU EVER LAID EYES ON.........WHO SEEMED TO BE LAUGHING AT ALL OF HIS JOKES....HE WAS HAVING A BLAST. HE WOULD END UP ACCEPTING AN INVITATION TO KEEP THE PARTY GOING..... FOR A NIGHT-CAP (IF YOU WILL)!!! WELL, IT TURNED OUT TO BE A LONG NIGHT.. BUT A VERY FUN NIGHT AS WELL. ALL I KNOW IS THAT THE NEXT MORNING, A VERY TROUBLED AND LATE TO REPORT TO DECK TERRY ANXOUISLY RAN TO THE BALCONY TO SEE IF THE SHIP WAS STILL IN PORT..........BUT THAT SHIP WAS BYE, BYE BABY!!!!

SO, TERRY WOULD HAVE TO WAIT FOR ABOUT A WEEK FOR THE SHIP TO RETURN DURING WHICH TIME HE HAD PLENTY OF TIME TO THINK ABOUT A REAL GOOD EXCUSE.....AND SURE ENOUGH THE SHIP RETURNED...AND TERRY RETURNED TO REPORT AND TO FACE WHATEVER CONSEQUENCE AND DISCIPLINE THAT HE HAD TO FACE....THE COMMODORE WHO WAS A SENIOR RANKING OFFICER, ASKED HIM WHY HE WAS LATE....TO WHICH TERRY DIDN’T SAY ANYTHING....HE JUST HANDED HIM (2) PHOTOS OF THE (2) LADIES HE HAD BEEN WITH THAT NIGHT BEFORE THE SHIP SAILED AWAY. ...

THE COMMODORE PAUSED FOR A MOMENT, THEN RESPONDED.....”YOU’VE GOT TO BE THE MOST HONEST MAN HERE” AND CONFINED HIM TO (3) THREE DAYS IN THE BRIG!!!

AFTER SERVING IN THE NAVY, TERRY WENT BACK TO BEAUMONT AND BEGAN WORKING FOR STEWART AND STEVENSON FROM 1972 TO 1978 AS A DESIEL MECHANIC. IN 1978 HE TRANSFERRED TO PORT ARTHUR AND WORKED THROUGH 1979 WITH THE COMPANY. AND IT WAS IN 1979 THAT TERRY DECIDED TO BUY HIS VERY OWN DUMP TRUCK AND BEGAN DUMP TRUCKING AS A LIVING...IT SEEMED A PERFECT FIT BECAUSE TERRY ALREADY POSSESSED THE SKILLS AND NO-HOW TO REPAIR IT, IF IT EVER BROKE DOWN. HE WOULD GO BACK TO LIVE IN BEAUMONT FROM 1981 TO 2005...THEN HE MOVED TO LUMBERTON TEXAS TO HELP TAKE CARE OF HIS MOM FOR A WHILE. TERRY RETIRED FROM DUMP TRUCKING IN 2014 AND WENT TO LIVE WITH TERRY JR FROM 2015 TO 2017 IN ORLANDO, FORIDA. HOWEVER, HE WOULD GO ON FROM ORLANDO TO MOVING BACK TO THE HOUSTON AREA.

AFTER SEEING MUCH OF WAR AND CONFLICT, TERRY SEEMED TO EMBRACE AN AFFECTION FOR ANIMALS...BOTH DOMESTIC AND WILD. AT ONE TIME, HE HAD (2) TWO DOGS, A CAT AND A RABBIT LIVING IN THE HOUSE.

BUT HE WAS ALSO, SOMEWHAT OF AN ANIMAL WHISPERER....OF PRETTY MUCH ANY TYPE OF WILD ANIMAL. THERE WAS THIS ONE TIME HE AND TERRY JR. WERE RIDING ALONG, AND THEY SAW DEER IN THE DISTANCE. TERRY GOES LET’S PULL OVER...AND SO HE GETS OUT AND BEGAN TO CALL FOR THE DEER..IT WAS A MOTHER DEER WITH A YOUNG SPIKE WITH HER....IT TOOK ALL OF (10) TEN MINUTES FOR THE DEER TO COME UP TO TERRY SO THAT HE COULD RUB THEM. HE JUST HAD A VERY SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH ANIMALS WHICH WAS A SOFTER SIDE OF HIM THAT MANY PEOPLE DID NOT GET TO SEE.

IN ADDITION, A FOND HOBBY OF TERRRY’S WOULD BE COIN COLLECTING....HE JUST LOVED THE HISTORY OF COINS AND TAKING FULL ADVANTAGE TO HAVE THEM IN HIS COLLECTION WHENEVER HE FOUND ONE THAT WAS RARE.

OUTSIDE OF THAT, TERRY GOT A LOT OF PLEASURE IN JUST TINKERING OUTSIDE AND WORKING ON HIS OLD FORD TRUCK.

WHEN IT COMES TO AFFILIATIONS, TERRY GREW UP AS A SOUTHERN BAPTIST AND HAD BEEN A MEMBER OF PECAN ACRES CHURCH FOR A GOOD WHILE. HE WAS ALSO A 30 SECOND DEGREE MASON FOR A LOT OF YEARS.

IN 2 TIMOTHY 2:3,THE BIBLE SAYS, “ENDURE HARDSHIP AS A GOOD SOLDIER OF JESUS CHRIST.”

THERE ARE SOME WHO KNEW OF THE CHALLENGES IN HIS HEALTH, THAT TERRY EXPERIENCED....AND I BELIEVE THAT WHAT WE KNEW OF HIS SUFFERINGS WERE JUST SURFACE STUFF.....

..NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW THE MAGNITUDE OF THE THINGS SUFFERED BY TERRY IN HIS BODY AND SPIRIT AS HE SERVED OUR COUNTRY....BUT WHAT’S FOR SURE IS....HE ENDURED THE CONFLICTS....AND THE CHALLENGES...AND FOUGHT VALIANTLY AS A TRUE CHAMPION.

THERE’S A POEM BY ERNEST HENLY, ENTITLED INVICTUS WHICH SAYS:

OUT OF THE NIGHT THAT COVERS ME, BLACK AS A PIT FROM POLE TO POLE,

I THANK WHATEVER GODS MAY BE FOR MY UNCONQUERABLE SOUL.

IN THE FELL CLUTCH OF CIRCUMSTANCE, I HAVE NOT WINCED OR CRIED ALOUD.

UNDER THE BLUDGEONINGS OF CHANCE MY HEAD IS BLOODY, BUT UNBOWED.

BEYOND THIS PLACE OF WRATH AND TEARS LOOMS BUT THE HORROR OF THE SHADE,

AND YET THE MENACE OF THE YEARS FINDS, AND SHALL FIND ME UNAFRAID.

IT MATTERS NOT HOW STRAIT THE GATE, HOW CHARGED WITH PUNISHMENTS THE SCROLL,

I AM THE MASTER OF MY FATE: I AM THE CAPTAIN OF MY SOUL.

OVER THE COURSE OF HIS LIFE, TERRY HAD LOOKED DEATH IN THE FACE ON FAR TOO MANY OCCASIONS. ONE THING’S FOR CERTAIN IS THAT WHEN HE COULD JUST SIT DOWN AND LOOK OVER THE WHOLE OF HIS LIFE, HE COULD SAY WITHOUT A DOUBT THAT GOD HAD BEEN GOOD TO HIM AND HAD DELIVERED HIM THROUGH A LOT OF CONFLICTS. BUT IN THOSE MOMENTS AS WELL, HE COULD SMILE WHEN HE THOUGHT ABOUT HIS HUMBLE BEGINNINGS BACK IN BEAUMONT, AND CONSIDER LIFE.... WITH THE LOVE OF HIS CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN IN HIS HEART AND SAY....”I’VE HAD A GREAT LIFE!!!”

AND SO IT WAS, ON MONDAY, JULY 18TH, TERRY EXCHANGED MORTALITY FOR IMMORTALITY AS HE BEGAN A WHOLE NEW JOURNEY WITHOUT LIMITS OF SPACE AND TIME. BOOKS COULD BE WRITTEN ABOUT HIS SERVICE TO THE COUNTRY, BUT HE WOULD SAY THAT HIS LEGACY IS NOT HIS VALOR IN COMBAT, NOT IN THE YEARS SPENT IN SERVICE, BUT HIS LEGACY WOULD BE THE LOVE FOR HIS FAMILY; ESPECIALLY HIS CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN.