Joe Willie Terry

JOE WILLIE TERRY, the second son of the late Willie and Zelphia Terry, was born April 21, 1931 in Henderson, Tennessee. He departed this life suddenly, December 25, 2012, at the home of his daughter in Aberdeen, Maryland. He spent his early years in the Henderson Public Schools and then matriculated to Central High School in Hayti, Missouri where he lived with his beloved aunt, Hess Stella Jones. When Joe was 17, he increased his age to 18 and joined the United States Army. He received an honorable discharge in April of 1955, after 7 years of service. Within one week of his discharge, Joe was hired as a laborer at Bethlehem Steel in Sparrow’s Point, Maryland. He would dedicate the next four decades of his life to “The Point,” retiring in 1998 after 43 years and 3 months of faithful service. In July of 1953, Joe married Delores Janet Stokes, a teacher in the Baltimore City Public School. From this union, four children – Joseph, Michael, La Jerne, and David – were born. Joe and Dolores worked hard and they played harder. They enjoyed going to the race track, playing pinochle, playing numbers (before there was a Maryland State Lottery), and playing a crazy card game called in-between. Dolores’s life was cut short due to respiratory illness in 1980 and the older boys, Joseph and Michael, preceded Joe in death as well. In his later years, Joe’s two remaining children were his pride and joy. He loved that his son David, an engineer for Norfolk Southern Railroad, reflected his work ethic and his daughter Le Jerne, an associate professor at Goucher College reflected his belief in the importance of education. He would tell anybody who listened that David and Jerne did well by him. Watching baseball on television was Joe’s favorite pastime. A National League lover in an American League town, his favorite team was the St. Louis Cardinals. To spite his baseball loving neighbors on Rosedale Street, he always referred to the Baltimore Orioles as a, “bunch of bums.” When the Orioles had a great season last year, Joe said, “It’s been a long time since that bunch of bums did something.” Suffice it to say that even after living in Baltimore for nearly 60 years, he never became a fan of the Orioles or the American League. After his retirement in 1998, Joe became one of the primary care-givers for grandson, Wayne Cornish, Jr., while his daughter pursued her doctoral degree. For the better part of three years, Joe would drive from Baltimore to Aberdeen two nights a week to watch Wayne, Jr. so that La Jerne could go to school. Over the course of the next fifteen years, a relationship formed between grandfather and grandson that was unbreakable. In the end, Wayne, Jr. watched his grandfather with the same tender care that his grandfather extended to him when he was a child. Joe married long-time girlfriend Theresa Taylor in the summer of 2003. They met while working at Bethlehem Steel. In 2009, Joe went to live with his daughter and her family in Aberdeen, where he held court at outdoor parties every July and September. A master story-teller, he would often entertain guests with tales from his or his children’s childhood. To know Joe was to know a story he told. He was a friendly guy who loved his family and was loved by them in return. He will truly be missed by all who knew him. He leaves to cherish his memory: wife, Theresa Terry; devoted daughter, La Jerne Terry Cornish (Wayne); beloved son, David Neal (Kim); grandchildren, Joseph William Terry, Jr. (Lauren), Kristen Dolores Terry, Wayne Cornish, Jr.; great-grandson, Antonio Francis Terry, as well as a host of other relatives and friends.

Tributes

Joe Willie Terry

April 21, 1931 - December 25, 2012