Mary J. (Duncan) Terry

Mary Terry, age 74, left this world to go to her heavenly home on Sunday, October 22, 2023, at Hendrick Medical Center in Abilene surrounded by many of her loved ones and held by her son.

A celebration of her life will be held on Sunday, November 5, 2023, at 2:30 p.m. at Stevens Funeral Home Chapel, 400 W. Pecan Street, Coleman, Texas. Officiating will be Jason Haynie, Bro. Don Harmes, and Bro. Doug Whittington. At the end of the service, there will be a short time to offer condolences to the family.

Mary Juanita Duncan was born on March 31, 1949, to Boyd and Jane Duncan in Coleman. She attended school in Coleman and graduated in 1967. She grew up in Coleman and loved riding horses with her dad and her friends. She also loved to fish.

She met Donny Terry in 1963 by tagging along with a friend who was going on a date and her friend’s date had a friend. It was a blind date that changed her life. She and Donny were inseparable after that and married four years later on June 2, 1967. They spent most of their married life in Coleman, aside from a few years away living in Crane, Texas, where they had their son, Toby. They moved to Odessa before living overseas in Iran, then back to Coleman in 1975. She worked as a finance manager for Warren Motor and then Hatler Motor (located where Higginbotham’s is now). She and Donny also had many business ventures together, including Terry’s Transport and building, owning and operating the skating rink from 1979-1999, where they went through almost three generations of kids.

They raised goats, raised birds, did cross country trucking, and lastly had an antique shop in Santa Anna called Pearls and Primitives. She also babysat many children in her home over the years and fed many a chicken fried steak to almost all of Toby’s friends and any company who entered their home. She made an outstanding bread pudding, which was a common request from many people.  She is also well known by many for her time working as a lunch lady at Coleman Elementary/Junior High cafeteria. She and Donny shared 60 years of love and life together.

She loved her family, her precious grandchildren and the family that wasn’t related by blood but rather by love, which can clearly be seen by the list of survivors, as well as all the kids from the skating rink, the school, and the children she took in or took care of over the years. She was well loved by many and left a huge impact on so many children in Coleman and all those who knew her. She was an amazing woman with such a bold, yet gentle, personality. She was a social butterfly who never met a stranger and she loved to talk. She was a loving wife, mother, mother-in-law, MiMi, sister, aunt and friend and her absence will leave a void that can never be filled.

Central Baptist Church was her first church home/family. She was married there, and she drove the church bus, hauling numerous kids to and from church for many years. Community Baptist was her last church/home family. She truly loved all the people there and she loved the Lord.

She is survived by her husband, Donny Terry of Coleman; her son, Toby Terry and wife Jeaninne of Coleman; her sister, Karen Haynie and life partner David Harmon of Norman, Oklahoma; granddaughters, Laken Middleton and husband Perry of Coleman and Maelena Terry of Coleman; two daughters by love, Deanna McNally, a cousin but more like a daughter, her husband Robert and their children Anthony, Brittnie and Cody, all of Utah and Callan Waddle and husband Oscar Gonzalez and their son Christian of Oak Point, Texas; grandsons by love, Kolton Titsworth and wife Rachel of Coleman, Leif Scott and wife Kelli of Coleman, and Mark Mann of Coleman; great grandchildren, Stanton, Shanley and Rylea Middleton of Coleman; great-grandchildren by love, Aubree and Emma Titsworth of Coleman, Lilly, Emmy and Jagger Scott of Coleman; nieces, Lori Smith and husband Dustin of Lexington, Oklahoma, Judy Tanksley and husband Steven of Choctaw, Oklahoma, Karan Sue Deeds of Midland, Monette Terry Baldwin of Grand Junction, Colorado; nephews, Jason Haynie and wife Amanda of Meeker, Oklahoma, Terry Don Smith and wife Rhonda of Tow, Jeff Smith of Midland, Tommy Quinn and wife Sue of Blackwell, Eddie Quinn of Abilene and Myron Terry and wife Vickie of Grand Junction, Colorado; a very special niece Carol Green of Corpus Christi, Texas; and a very special aunt, Carolyn Sprinkles and husband John of Coleman as well as lots of great nieces and great nephews and many, many special friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Boyd and Jane Duncan; brother-in-law, Bobby Haynie, father-in-law and mother-in-law, Top and Iola Terry, brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Mann and Myrna Terry, sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Frankie and Jimmy Quinn, and sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Margie and JL Smith, and a nephew, Marion Terry.

Please leave kind thoughts and loving memories for the family on Mary’s obituary page at www.stevensfuneralhome.com.  Stevens Funeral Home is honored to serve the Terry family.