Terry Matthis Stuart

By Marc Stuart, husband

Terry Lynn Matthis, the Love of My Life, was born on May 8, 1946, in Princeton, Illinois, but did not stick around for long. Her parents, Lutherine Talbert and Jack Burton, split up almost immediately and Lutherine went back to her home state, Louisiana, with baby Terry. I never found out exactly why, but rather than remaining with her mom, Terry was dropped off with her maternal grandparents, Elijah and Eugenia Talbert, on their subsistence farm in (very) rural central Louisiana. From this unexplained detour we get the family story that Terry “grew up in the nineteenth century” because there was no electricity or running water out there.

After some years of churning butter, etc., Terry was back with her mother and adoptive father Elton Matthis in Lake Charles, attending Lake Charles High School and continuing her education for two years at McNeese State University there. She was a top student, and as a result was tapped to be a tutor for some of the less gifted academically, especially members of the football team. These athletes were very appreciative of her efforts and in return frequently escorted her around campus as bodyguards. (If you have seen photos of Terry from this time period, you understand why she needed bodyguards.)

She was married twice before me, but let’s skip over that. Okay, her first husband, Pat, was quite a guy, a Vietnam veteran who went on to join the Secret Service. She saw Hawaii during his military tour when she was transported there for an R&R visit. During that trip she was offered numerous jobs, none of which she accepted, lucky for me. She lived in the D.C. area while he rode Air Force One, etc., and was a fixture at many White House functions.

Her second husband, Tom, the electrical engineer, was a bad fit and can legitimately be skipped here, except for the fact that Terry sneaked out of his life at virtually the same time that I sneaked out of my second wife’s life. (She was also a bad fit.)

Our escapes were not coordinated, though. I was the leader of a rock’n’roll show band at the time (early 80’s), and her friend, Jen, was my bass player’s cousin. Jen brought Terry to see us at a club in Houston, so we met, and I would be lying if I didn’t admit that there was some attraction there, but we were both married, so that was that for the time being.

However, our dual marital exits occurred within the next year, and when each of us heard about that coincidence “through the grapevine”, it didn’t take long for us to think about getting together. When we tried it, we clicked immediately. We had both just left unfortunate relationships, so I proposed cohabitation rather than marriage, and that suited Terry just fine.

But by 1987 we wanted to buy a house, so we went ahead and tied the knot legally so as to avoid any unexpected complications. (I kneeled and said, “Sweetheart, I think we should get married for tax purposes.” And she said, “Yes!”) Since then, we have lived happily in Garland and Plano, joined by each of our mothers as they reached the time in life where you need the support of those you have brought into the world.

We also shared that time with a series of beloved pets, both cats and dogs. The thought of Terry being able to visit with each of them – Woofy, Squeaks, Posey and Elvira – brings tears to my eyes every time it crosses my mind.

Over these years, Terry has faced – and overcome – numerous health challenges, including a couple of serious scrapes with cancer. In her youth, she had to deal with food allergies which limited her to a severely restricted diet for many months at a time. So, when she complained of gastric discomfort a few weeks ago, even when we had to take her to the ER, we had no thought that this could be a life-threatening illness, making her sudden loss all the more shocking. To those of you with whom I have spoken in the meantime, thanks for helping me get though this time of incomprehensible grief.

Terry led a very interesting life and always had amusing stories to share in any gathering, no matter what the topic. Up to this point I have focused on her personal relationships without including much detail about the many careers she pursued:

• Sales: Cable TV services, customer loyalty rewards programs (when they were a new concept)

• Managing commercial real estate

• Analyzing large telephone systems (government offices, schools, hospitals) to lower their costs

• Staffing oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, including riding the choppers out there

• Booking my rock’n’roll band

Some of you have insisted that this eulogy should include some of her stories. Fair enough, but I am still overwhelmed with events, so I will list a couple of favorites and invite anyone to contribute more, along with any sweet memories. -MS

• Terry’s Favorite Cat of All Time, Merlin, came to the window of her townhouse in Houston one night out of the rain, having just been “fixed”. She gave him a bath and he appreciatively, and endearingly, curled up on her. He was clearly running away from home, so she felt obliged to put up “found cat” notices, although unfortunately they were very tiny and very illegible. (Epilog: Merlin accepted me when I entered the picture, and he also became my Favorite Cat of All Time.)

• Terry was vacationing in Acapulco when a hurricane approached. The resort employees poo-poohed it as “leetle weend”, but she was having none of that. She appropriated (okay, stole) one of the hotel’s Jeeps and drove it to the airport. There she located a plane bound for Houston and blustered her way on board with very little Spanish at her command. The plane made several stops on the way to Houston, at each of which she was confronted by the local authorities, none of whom was able to remove her from the vehicle. In later years, she was always hesitant to return to Mexico.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.TedDickeyFuneral.com for the family.

Arrangements by Ted Dickey Funeral Home.