Joyce Terry

Joyce Jean Terry was born July 21st, 1936, on one of the hottest days of the summer in Macon, Missouri to Roscoe and Michaleen Perkins. Joyce was the eldest of three children. She lived on a 330 acre farm for most of her younger life. At the age of 16 she married and at 19 had her first son Larry Alan, but shortly after he passed away. Joyce was a strong woman who endured and remarried. Marring Donald Lee Wright and moving to Chicago, where they had two children, Donald and Deborah. After living in Chicago for nine years they moved to Saint Paul, Minnesota. Pulling up root away from her family and friends, yet again Joyce endured. While raising her two children she also worked for Saint Paul Public Schools, and was a founding member of Dayton's Bluff Community Education where she taught ceramics. Joyce had an artistic side which she enjoyed expressing through different kinds of mediums such as drawing, ceramics, dancing and poetry. In her children's final years of high school Joyce decided to pursue a new career in real estate, where she met and later married her late husband James E. Terry. During that time the housing market was very difficult, yet again Joyce chose to change careers. She quickly became a manager at 2 Superette in Saint Paul. Shortly after Joyce became a grandmother. During her leisure time Joyce loved reading and spending time with her family. Her weekends were spent with her family going to their cabin in Howard Lake Minnesota. Joyce loved spending time fishing with her husband. Before long her grandchildren had graduated from high school and Joyce was a great grandma. Many years later Joyce retired from US Bank Corporate Trust where she worked in specialized financing due to being diagnosed with esophageal (throat) cancer. After a tough battle Joyce once again persevered. During her later years in life , she became knowledgeable in social media and was often on Facebook where she played online games and enjoyed keeping up with family and friends. During her entire life Joyce expressed how much she cared for and loved those around her. "What we have once enjoyed and deeply loved we can never lose, for all that we lvoe deeply becomes a part of us." -Helen Keller