
I am saddened to hear of Terry’s passing. 
We hadn’t been in touch for a very long time.....but the fun memories from Park Stockdale summers are very fresh in my mind forever. I have never forgotten the whole family. It was always funny that we had the same house plan one street apart. 
We also shared the same middle name. 
She and Mary Baird and I were good friends. 
(Sadly, Mary also passed recently) 
I remember the night of high school graduation when the hypnotist entertainer had Terry clucking like a chicken on stage! 
It was so hilarious!  
I was in attendance at her wedding. 
From all the photos I am so happy to see that it was a great marriage and that  she lived a very full rich life filled with so much love! Not surprising for such a great gal! 

Terry was always willing and ready to be involved with all the fun that ensued.......but mostly she was so very kindhearted and lovely.
She had a certain grace that we all admired. 
She is in my heart forever. 

I send my condolences to you all. 
Shawna

*She always told me she liked my name! 😊
Hi Shawna !👋 I guess I am your namesake!?





Terry was an angel on loan from heaven.  She lived her life with Christlike love and compassion.  Even through her trials, she found ways to lift and bless others.   During a time when I knew she was struggling with extreme physical pain as well as grief and discouragement at the loss of Jeffrey, I called her to let her know we were praying for her and all of the Erickson family.  She thanked me and then turned the attention from her to ask if there was a specific prayer she could offer for me.   I couldn't believe it!  Terry daily dealt with so many challenges.  I told her I was fine and was so humbled that she could even think to pray for me.  She persisted, and then I remembered a conversation I had with my 30 year old daughter that morning.  My daughter Sarah called me in tears that same day.  She has been dealing with back pain for over a year. She is a mother of three active young boys.  One of those boys was her 18 month old that was extremely curious and loved to climb.  It was like chasing a monkey around all day.  She struggled trying to keep up with him and all her other responsibilities as a mom.  I explained Sarah's situation to Terry and she was so happy to pray for Sarah.  

The next day my daughter called to tell me that for the first time in months her pain had disappeared!   When I told Terry,  she described her detailed prayer for Sarah and her little family.  It was so sweet and so detailed.  Her faith really did bring miracles. It seemed to give Terry new hope and purpose to pray for others.   Her prayers seemed to always be followed by the tender mercies of our Heavenly Father.   I know that God blessed Terry by blessing the lives of so many people through her sweet humble prayers.  I told her she was our connection to heaven.  

We will miss you Terry!  We will miss your loving smiles.  We know that we can still expect miracles because you are still our connection to Heaven.  

Good afternoon.  My name is Kent Dudley and I am Terry’s younger brother.  On behalf of Terry’s extended family, thanks to everyone for being here today.  We are all here because we loved Terry very much.

By looking out at this wonderful group of people, I can see just a sample of the many lives Terry touched with her kindness and love.

Terry was many things but in the beginning, Terry was a daughter and a sister.  Along with her older sisters, Eva, Mary, and myself, Terry was born in Calgary Alberta Canada.  Her father is a Canadian and her mother is a Texan.  What could possibly go wrong?  Our family moved a lot.  First to Taft, California when Terry was about 5, back to Calgary a couple years later, and then to Bakersfield when Terry was about 8.  Bakersfield is essentially where we all grew up.  

Terry was the best daughter parents could ever have.  I don’t remember her ever getting in trouble, but I remember myself getting in trouble.  Eva and Mary also… But not Terry.  Maybe she just never got caught??  Throughout her entire life, she looked out for a cared for our parents more than any of us.  She was the best daughter a parent could ever have.

Next, growing up, Terry was a friend.  Everywhere she lived she made friendships that lasted her entire life.  Several of them have traveled long distances on short notice to be here today.  Friends are very valuable.  Most people go through life and have only a couple of true friends – friends that would do anything for you, but Terry had dozens of true friends she would help at the drop of a hat.  Friends in a church singing trio called the Methodets. Friends in a bell choir.  Friends from her work as a preschool teacher.  You could have no better friend than Terry.  Along with being my sister, Terry was also my closest friend.

Terry Eulogy continued...

Terry spent one teenage summer as a foreign exchange student in Holland.  One of her lifelong friends tells me she came back from Holland with just a bit more edge to her.  Terry had confided in them that she had smoked a cigarette when in Holland.  This was probably the most rebellious thing she ever did.

And then along Terry’s journey through life, she met a guy.  Fresh out of UC Berkley, Dave was hired by Mervyns and sent to Bakersfield as a department manager.  Probably not his first choice of locations, but that assignment definitely changed his life.  As a Mervyns department manager, part of Dave’s job was to approve merchandise returns.  One day Dave noticed that someone had returned a dress that was clearly a home-made dress!  Dave asked the employee who handled the return of this homemade dress to come see him in his office to explain how this could have possibly happened.  Dave asked - who could possibly approve the return of this homemade dress?  The employee (Terry) smiled and informed Dave that HE was the one that approved the return!  This is how Terry and Dave met for the first time.  Picture that occasion in your mind.  Their very first meeting… that homemade dress… Terry’s big smile while having this conversation.  This was the start of the love story of Dave and Terry.  I’m not the least bit surprised that Dave fell in love with Terry, because everyone I know loved Terry.  But Dave had hit the jackpot – Terry loved him back!  I think Terry hit the jackpot also.   They were married in August of 1979.  Terry was now a wife.  As much as we all loved Terry, I know that Dave loved her most of all.

Along their journey together, they started a family and Shawna was born in Sandy, UT.  Terry was now a mother.  Soon after that, Jeff and Alissa were born in Kingwood, TX.

Terry Eulogy continued...

The years went past and the family ended up here in Surprise AZ.  Their children grew up and Terry and Dave were blessed with eight grandchildren.  Terry was now a grandmother.  Terry loved each and every one of her grandchildren and I know they loved her very much also.  One of her favorite activities was attending their school and sports activities.  On my last visit just a couple weeks before her passing, we attended Mason’s baseball game.  

I was able to visit Terry in the middle of last December.  We both knew it was probably the last time.  The recent passing of our mother and her son Jeff hit her hard.  She was still full of love and still fighting but I could tell she sensed the end was near.  A 23 year battle was coming to an end.

I am inspired watching how Terry lived her life through all this adversity.  She was truly amazing.  I’ve learned many things from my sister Terry.  How to live, how to fight, how to survive, and how to love.  I miss her very much and I know you all will also.  
Terry left us way too soon.  I still can’t believe she is physically gone.  But she will live forever in all of us.  Please tell your friends, children and grandchildren about Terry – She was your daughter, your sister, your friend, your wife, your mother, your grandmother.  Keep her memory alive and she will live forever.
Thank you.

I believe God brings us in contact with certain people to enrich our lives.  And fortunately for me, Terry was one of those people who I had the joy of sharing time and experiences with through common connections with a Methodist Church in Kingwood, TX.  We had children around the same ages and sang together in the church choir.  We also shared memorable 'youth mission trip adult' experiences supporting annual week-long deployment to Oklahoma to perform minor  home repairs and live in community with a hundred-plus youth and adults from our Kingwood church.

Terry was caring, humble, dedicated, unpretentious and always fully engaged on meeting the needs of others.  One time after learning her oldest, Shawna was assigned to the youth work team I was to help lead, Terry quietly sought me out to share some insights about Shawna targeted to enhance the experience for Shawna and myself.  There was nothing major in what Terry shared - simply the insights of a caring mom desiring the best for her daughter and a caring friend desiring to help me maximize my experience during the week ahead with Shawna and the other youth on the work team.

Time, different life directions and distance separated me from face-to-face connection with Terry (and Dave and family), but through mutual friends, I was aware of the battles related to her health that she fought with such courage.  And I was privileged to prayer for her from afar throughout her journey.  

I look forward to a future time after my own earthly days are done where I can reunite with saints like Terry that brightened my days in Kingwood.

I miss playing pool with her.  I loved playing Rummikub with her. I loved going swimming with Grandma and baking cookies. I loved Christmas time with Grandma.  I really enjoyed just hanging out and talking with her. 

I remember when Grandma taught me to swim and go under water.  She helped me get the courage to jump in.  I loved her scavenger hunts  at Christmas and when she taught me how to play Rummikub.  I loved having sleep overs with her.  She was the best Grandma ever. 

I was sixteen years old when my brother Phil married Shawna and the Erickson family became my family. Terri was always there, ready to share in the joys of my happiest life events. Sharing hugs of joy when I met my love and hugs of joy when I was pregnant with my boys. Hugs of comfort when we experienced loss and difficult times. I know so many prayers were said on our behalf. She  was an amazing source of peace, love and kindness. I hope I can be that to others in her honor. 

Oh sweet Terry,  We will miss your sweet smile and great hugs.  Our journey with Dave and Terry started in a Sunday School room many years ago at Strawbridge United Methodist Church.  We were all introducing ourselves and Terry said she was from Bakersfield Ca. and John said I am too and then they found out that they had both graduated from West High in Bakersfield and our friendship was started.  Our favorite memory was a cruise we took with Dave and Terry to Alaska celebrating Dave and Terry's 25th anniversary and our 24th.  It was an adventure we will never forget.  We love the Erickson family and they will always be a part of our family.  

Terry was a joyous and joyful person who lived life with great gusto and courage.  I was so privileged to be her choir director in Kingwood, TX for many years and enjoyed making music with her and the entire choir.  She was an example to all of us in how to deal with adversity and pain, and I think of her as a true saint of God. 

She will be missed greatly but will also live on in my memories, especially when something difficult in life comes my way. 

God bless you, Terry, and may you rest in peace with Christ.  

We all know how sweet and how strong Terry was but she was also tons of fun and quite ornery! We always sat next to each other in church choir. Some Sundays when the sermon was a bit dry we found ourselves writing limericks about our friends in the congregation on the back of the bulletin. I remember one in particular she wrote about our choir director (whom we both thought of as our younger brother)that started like this: “There once was a guy named Todd, who loved Lori and music and God...” We would start chuckling  to ourselves and couldn’t even look at each other for fear of bursting out laughing. Then we would look out in the congregation and see Dave with his arms crossed giving us a half glare, half smile trying to signal us to behave! It never worked. Another time I drove Terry down to MD Anderson and we got there around 9:30 in the morning for an appointment. As it turned out we were there all day and as we sat in a deserted waiting room at 2:00 am in the morning Terry spied the cameras that filmed the people in the waiting room. Then she saw  the TV screen on the other side of the glass partition that showed what the cameras saw. She started performing for the cameras—singing and dancing and we laughed so hard we cried! I remember driving back to Kingwood that morning at 3:00 am thru a driving rainstorm being thankful for the day we got to spend together. She was one of the rare absolutely phenomenal human beings I have been lucky enough to call my friend.

Such beautiful pictures of lives lived so well.  Terry loved her family fiercely as did Jeff.  God bless you all in these very difficult days.  We love you.  

What a JOY  to have known Sweet Terry! We worked together at JOY Preschool. Always there with a smile or a hug when you needed one! My only regret is is not keeping in touch! 

 What a Blessing that she had such a Loving , and Caring  Husband and Children!  You all were her World!!!  See you someday in Paradise, where there is no more pain!!  Ellen C.

OBITUARY

Teresa Lynn Erickson

July 15, 1958 – January 9, 2020

Surprise Funeral Care

Show your support

Add a Memory

Share Obituary

Get Reminders

Services