Here is some things from the day of my Dad’s funeral.
Here’s the obituary:
Russell (Russ) Lynn Terry, a beloved husband, father, brother, grandfather, great grandfather, and friend, passed away peacefully on September 1, 2024, at the age of 76. He was born on March 30, 1948 in Provo, Utah to William Adair Terry and Mary Ann Jeppson. Russell lived a life filled with love, dedication, and an unwavering commitment to his family, faith, and a spirit of adventure whether on a motorcycle, fishing, hunting, hiking, or otherwise.
A man of deep faith, Russell served a mission at age 19 for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the British South Mission. He also served missions later in life at Temple Square and the Employment Center in Layton, Utah. His love for the Gospel was evident in the way he lived his life, always striving to follow the teachings of his Savior. Russell’s commitment to his faith brought him great joy and was a source of strength and comfort throughout his life.
Russell met his wife, Karren Gee on a disastrous blind date. After some patience and further dating attempts, their relationship grew into a happy marriage of 54 years. Their marriage was a testament to their deep love and partnership, weathering life's joys and challenges together.
Russell served his country starting at age 21 as a member of the 19th Special Forces (Green Beret) Airborne Unit. During his term of service he was awarded the Parachutist Badge, and Marksman proficiency in the M-14, and Expert proficiency in the M-16. He achieved the rank of Staff Sergeant. He was very proud of his service and accomplishments as a Green Beret. He often reminded his family, tongue-in-cheek that his hands were registered weapons.
Russell was known for his adventures, kindness, sense of humor, love of ice cream, and mischievous life stories. He loved projects and he never found something that did not need to be “modified” to improve functionality. He also enjoyed fishing, trying new things, and embracing whatever excitement life had to offer. Whether it was spending time with his loved ones, or tending to his garden, he brought joy and energy to everything he did.
Russell enjoyed a long career as a salesman and manager. He had a strong work ethic and was appreciated by his customers and employees. He retired after 38 years in the electrical wholesale business.
Russell is preceded in death by his parents and sister, Norma Killpack. He is survived by his wife Karren and his four children, Jennifer Rasmussen (Thomas), Johanna Williams (Burke), Rebecca Mancil (Aaron), Bryan Terry (Michonne), 16 grandchildren, one great grandchild, as well as three siblings, Steven Terry, Linda Hallman, and Byron Terry.
Funeral Services will be held on Saturday, 7, 2024, at 11:00 am at the Jensen Park Ward, 3024 S 1200 W Syracuse, Utah . Friends may visit with family prior to service from 9:00am to 10:45am. Family and friends are invited to gather and celebrate the life of a man who brought so much love, joy and adventure into the world.
Here’s the funeral program:
Everyone in our family played a part in the program:
Link to my Dad’s slide show that was played during the viewing:
https://youtu.be/zm5V5YOsiNQ?si=-84cguZE00fu810U
Video link to my Dad’s entire funeral program:
https://youtu.be/P2Aiy9Ge5QI?si=HHdAnzZcza644byX
Here’s a rough draft copy of mine and Johanna’s talk at his funeral:
Russell Terry Funeral
Intro: Our dad was a very special man. That is an understatement. He was smart, kind, thoughtful, and loving. As we thought about what we could say about such an extraordinary person who lived a full life, we tried to focus on a few of the things that made him special to us. Thankfully, my dad spent some time gathering stories and photos about his life and compiled them into a couple of books for us. We have a few items to share today from his own words.
Quirky (johanna intro): My dad was generally a pretty easygoing guy. He was easy to please and happy with what he had, but there were a few things he really insisted on and appreciated. One important thing was that his clothing be functional, he didn’t care too much about fashion. All of his t-shirts had to have pockets. He was known to buy two identical shirts to ensure that he could cut out a perfect match from one shirt to sew a pocket onto another.
Another notable fashion choice was borrowing my old purple leg warmers to go running. He said they helped him avoid shin splints and he didn’t care if he looked a little funny jogging in shorts and purple leg warmers. I remember thinking it’s a good thing he was exercising at 5AM and there weren’t many people around.
My dad often had vocabulary that we later learned was all his own.
Rebecca:
Some of the quirky sayings specific for him were only found out when WE used them in front of other people who were NOT our family. Like the Ride for Life. I always thought a zipline was called The Ride For Life. I am embarrassed to say I was pretty old (like adult aged) when I realized that it really is called a zip line and not a ride for life. Just like the saying “Hit my taster”. If something was quite enjoyable and tasted really good, he would say “That hit my taster”. It was when I used it after I got married did I realize Aaron did not know what I was talking about. However, we now all use that phrase so if you hear it, you know what it means, too. My Dad loved riding motorcycles, however, they weren’t referred to as motorcycles he called them popsicles. I don’t know why they were referred to as a popsicle ride, but they were. “He would ask do you want to go for a popsicle ride?”
He also served our country as a Green Beret. With that specialized training he learned a lot of tactical and defense moves. Another common saying he would kiddingly use as he would hold up his hands and show them to us is, “These hands are registered weapons’. Sometimes he would take it further and say I can’t put my hands in my pocket because then I would have concealed weapons. We would all roll our eyes and quietly LOL.
JOHANNA: I learned what a slingshot was after I went to a sporting goods store and asked the clerk for replacement parts for a “flipper crotch”. He gave me a look of horror and asked someone else. Neither one had any idea what I was talking about.
Rebecca: intro modify
Another quality my dad had was his intelligence and resourcefulness. He never met any object or item that couldn’t be improved in some way. He always referred to this ‘improvement’ or fixing as ‘modifying’. His classic saying we heard quite a bit from him with resigned patience, especially after something got broken was, “That is my lot in life is to modify everything’. His modified items were very commonplace around their house and garage. If we saw something that looked different than when it was purchased we knew that Dad had come into contact with it. Just a few examples of some modified items…my mom had a nut chopper that was quite tedious to use. My dad decided to attach a drill to that nut chopper to make it chop faster, however, for whatever reason that made the nut chopper wear out that much quicker, but it did chop nuts that much faster. He felt the trade off was worth it and he now knew how to better modify the next one. One modification he always was working on was the towel bars in the house. Growing up we loved to hang on the towel bars and pretend we were gymnasts. Inevitably they would get pulled out of the walls along with the wall anchors leaving behind huge holes that he had to fix. These towel bar modifications became more frequent after the olympics since we found inspiration from the gymnasts’ bar routines. Good thing he was a patient man.
JOHANNA: The riding lawnmower was not exempt from my dad’s modifications. The mower had a safety bar to hold while mowing prevent injuries when getting on and off of the seat. When you let go of the safety bar to dump the grass, it stops the mower. My dad felt it took too long to restart after dumping the clippings. This was not efficient so he taped the safety bar to the handle so it would keep running and he wouldn’t lose any time restarting the mower after dumping the grass.
REBECCA: Another one is he felt like the garden tiller wasn’t tilling the garden soil deep enough. He would have my mom come over and stand on the tiller to make the tines get deeper into the soil so they could have a better outcome in their garden. Their garden was always beautiful and fruitful so I call that modification a success. Just even recently he wanted a good dry mop to clean their garage floor. He cut up a towel and tied it on the end of a long dowel with a metal hose tie so he could clean that floor better than any other dry mop you could buy. Most of the modifications were smart and useful. It was interesting to see what modification improvements he came up with.
Smart, resourceful, prepared:
JOHANNA: My dad was so smart. He was always prepared and taught us those same habits. He was resourceful and took advantage of opportunities. He loved garage sales and found fun gadgets and projects to bring home to modify. He was the early bird for the best selection. He traveled long distances by car for work and was known to return home with treasures he found on his travels. He kept an eye out for items on the side of the road lost during transit, sometimes carrying them home on his motorcycle. He proudly showed us the tools, chairs, hats, camping equipment, and other great things he found.
Rebecca: prepared. Car care, tires
Speaking of being resourceful and prepared he always made sure each of us knew how to change a flat tire and how to check the oil level. He also made sure all of our cars had a flashlight in them in case of emergency. In addition he would try to teach us all how to tie different knots and what situations used which knots. Although I attended many of these knot tying sessions, please don’t ask me to tie those knots because I am sure I would do it wrong although he patiently taught me how to tie them so many times. He always had a pocket knife on him in case he needed to cut, open or—--even modify something. He also made sure he had extra parts in the garage for things in case he needed to fix, change, or replace something. His preparedness actually came in handy this week even after he had passed away. The bathroom faucet in my mom’s house needed to be fixed and he had all the spare parts needed to fix it already in the garage. He is still making sure we are taken care of.
Johanna: Hard Worker: My dad taught us all the value of hard work through his example. He was always busy and his second full time job was finding projects to work on. The neighborhood usually knew when dad was awake on Saturday mornings because his projects could get a little noisy and he started early.
Rebecca: One of the biggest projects he undertook was building a cabin himself. In addition to his incredibly long work weeks he had some incredibly long weekends working on the cabin. We got to help with this endeavor as well. I remember my very first date in Highschool was to Homecoming on a Friday night. I ended up getting home from that date in the wee hours of Saturday morning. My Dad came and woke me and Bryan up a few hours later that same Saturday morning so we could go up to the cabin to paint and seal all the wood siding before it got hung up around the shell of the cabin. I am sure I was tired and less than thrilled, but he led by example and I learned what hard work truly looked like. We spent all day painting until the sun set and we couldn’t see to paint anymore. At that point it was deemed to be time to finally eat a meal. Eating was less important than the task at hand. I am sure that it was how he was able to get so much accomplished. I still have that mindset so when I get started on a big project I usually don’t even think to stop and eat until it is done.
Johanna: My dad learned about the importance of a good work ethic at a young age. He got his first job at 13 years old at the grocery store down the road from his house. He continued to work hard for nearly 50 years and only stopped when he was forced to retire due to his failing health. He worked at several different occupations in his young adulthood until he settled into being an electrical wholesale salesman and was employed in that occupation for more than 30 years. He worked long hours and had a long commute throughout his career. l knew that hard work was important to him and I saw him dedicate time and effort to being successful. He was honored by his employers on more than one occasion because he looked for challenges, set goals, and worked hard to achieve them.
Rebecca: Adventures: As much of a hard worker that he was, he also loved adventure and played hard as well. His adventurous spirit started when he was a little boy. There are a lot of stories of the crazy adventures he had while growing up. Some of them he refused to talk about until we were older because he was afraid we would try to attempt the same crazy things he did. He called them his ‘Not until 21’ stories and a lot of them involved fireworks and or explosives. It really is amazing he didn’t get more injured while growing up. Anyway, those stories were definitely worth waiting to hear about at age 21. Going back to his childhood we can share a few of his crazy adventures.
Johanna: My dad’s sense of adventure started at a young age. He often colluded with his older brother and they got into trouble together. On more than one occasion, my dad found the trouble all by himself. One cautionary tale I remember hearing as a young girl was when my dad was 7 years old and wanted to be in the circus. (read from p13).
Rebecca: cannon p45
Johanna: As you can see, a lot of my dad’s early adventures included guns, fireworks, or other explosives. The adventures he shared with his young family were a little more tame. He loved the outdoors and every weekend we went for hikes, bike rides, picnics in the canyon on a beautiful afternoon, motorcycle rides, and lots of fishing trips. He had a lifetime fishing license and definitely used it as often as he could.
One of my favorite things to do together was camping. We had a trailer and frequently used it to visit new places. The only problem was when it was time for dad to try to light the furnace. It was difficult and took a lot of finesse. Usually this feat was attempted at bedtime after a long day of adventures. Lucky for dad, he had three daughters to help, so he got lots of unsolicited advice.
On one camping trip to yellowstone, my dad brought his newest gadget. It was a video recorder and he took it everywhere we went within the park. He was learning how to use all the features included on the camera, especially the zoom. He used this video camera to produce his own documentary of every geyser, pool, and hotpot in the park. There was no narration, no people, just close up shots of steam and bubbling mud. When we got home and sat to watch it, even my dad realized it was a little boring.
Rebecca: sleeping in car, topaz mountain, cooking
However, not all his adventures were fun. One example was our family trip out to Topaz Mountain. He wanted to take us out and show us Topaz Mountain where you could pick up interesting pieces of topaz or crystals just off the ground. He loved sharing cool things to do and that was one of them he wanted to do with our family. Now Topaz Mountain is out in the middle of nowhere. That was also way back when there was no Google Maps or Mapquest or even cell phones. While we were out there we got seriously lost when we were trying to come back home. He drove around it seemed like in circles trying to find the road back out to come home, but it stayed rather elusive. What made it worse was the two kids in the back seat, which were me and Bryan, who were having some rather severe car sickness and, for whatever reason, couldn’t make it into the barf bucket. My mom had to sit between us and bore the brunt of our lack of aiming ability and was not enjoying that adventure AT ALL on the way home. Thankfully we did eventually make it home, but it took a long time to get the inside of the car clean again. We did bring back different pieces of Topaz which we can never look at and not think about our adventure.
Johanna: My dad liked to keep things exciting and sometimes we had adventures at home. One evening as I returned from a date late at night, my dad decided that I was spending too much time on the front porch. I heard a strange sound but didn’t pay attention until I saw a shadow walking down the street. My dad had jumped the fence and crept around to the front of the house and walked up to the front porch with a pitchfork. My date left soon after his arrival.
Rebecca: One other misadventure was our family road trip out to California. My Dad was hoping that us kids could sleep while he drove through the night. However, as it got later into the night it was decided that we needed to stop to sleep for a bit before we could safely get back on the road. It was eventually decided that all 6 of us would sleep inside the car at a rest stop.Trying to fit 4 tweens/teenagers and 2 adults in a tiny Chevy Cavalier station wagon to sleep for the night was not super pleasant or restful. Bryan ended up straddling the gear shift laying in between my Dad and Mom who were trying to recline in the front bucket seats. The rest of us tried to lay down in the back, but a few of us (not me of course) were bed hogs and fought valiantly for any and all space. That led to a few heated discussions about whose space was whose. Anyway, after trying for a few hours to restfully sleep and it not working out we got back on the road and were more than happy to eventually get to our hotel in California to actually get some restful sleep.
Rebecca: ADVENTURES IN FOOD: That adventurous spirit spilt over into his cooking. He did not believe in following a recipe. You would never eat the same thing twice because he didn’t remember what he used or how to recreate it. Most of the time it worked out and was delicious, but other times you questioned his sense of taste.
Johanna: Some of his delicacies included something he called vierschmitzly. I still don’t know if that is a real dish or something he completely made up. He also enjoyed experimenting with Jello. He made lots of jello concoctions, they often included cottage cheese or fruit, sometimes vegetables. He really liked trying new combinations, but as his guinea pigs, we finally had to draw the line when he combined chocolate pudding with fruit cocktail. He chalked that experiment up as a loss.
Rebecca: favorite sandwich green book p 126
Johanna: He enjoyed baking on Sundays and would often make cookies or pie. He didn’t really have much of a sweet tooth, so he was pretty skimpy on the sugar in his desserts. The Sunday sweets were usually not very sweet. However, we knew if a treat did turn out well, we better enjoy it, because there was no recipe and we wouldn’t get a repeat.
There were a few dishes he made that we really enjoyed no matter the recipe. The best thing was when he made homemade ice cream. He was a huge ice cream fan and liked to make a batch to eat together in the summer. We also loved having his homemade root beer. It was delicious and the slush that was at the bottom of the cooler once all the root beer was gone was a special treat.
Rebecca: Father, Grandfather: One of the most important roles my Dad took on was that of a Father and then Grandfather. I don’t know if he knew the enormity of such a role when he first became a father, but he jumped right in with the same willingness and gusto he used when he jumped out of airplanes when he was a Green Beret in the 19th Special Forces. He made sure his family was provided for and that his children knew he loved them. In preparing this part of the talk I googled “the role of a father”. The first responses on google were generated by AI, but they are totally applicable. A father is a guiding light, a friend, a role model, a teacher, a provider, a perfector, a builder. My Father was all of these and more and it continued on when he became a grandpa known as Gramps.
Johanna: My dad occasionally traveled for work. He always made sure to bring home some souvenirs for each of us while he was gone. We eagerly circled around him while he unpacked his suitcase to wait for our surprise. I appreciate the effort he took to find time to shop for us while he was working.
Education: rebecca
Growing up we knew how important education was to our parents. To help facilitate our learning my Dad was always willing to help explain things—especially Math problems if we didn’t understand them. Even now when I am counting things I use the method he taught me back in elementary school. Later on in life, this emphasis on education resulted in ALL of his children AND their spouses to get college degrees ranging from Bachelor’s degrees, to Master’s Degrees, and one Doctor of Medicine Degree.
Johanna: My dad was very patient and kept his cool most of the time. Because of this quality, he was volunteered to teach us all how to drive. I’m sure it tested even his patience because he didn’t just teach us the rules of the road, but also how to operate a manual transmission. You would think that once we all learned how to drive the worst part was over, but you would be wrong. He was called out on more than one occasion to come and help when we were stranded somewhere. Without mentioning names, I know that he was called due to no gas in the tank, popped tires after driving directly over train tracks, and a bent flywheel after taking air in the car. Actually, those were all me. But between the four of us, we kept him pretty busy once we started driving. He always showed up ready to help and made sure that we were taken care of and safe.
Rebecca: gospel support/teaching
My Father was supportive. I decided I wanted to participate in track in Jr. High. He was more than willing to help me learn how to train and run. He started out by sharing what the world record time for the 100 meter race was so I could have a goal to work towards. He gave me tips and tricks about how to get faster. He was encouraging and supportive even when I came in close to last in many a race.
He taught a lot through example. I learned more from his quiet example of faith, hard work, persistence, diligence, humility, and humbleness than any college degree could teach me. I always looked forward to our yearly Father’s blessings before the school year started. It was a great way to start the year off right.
Johanna: Husband: Theodore Hesburgh said “the most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother”. One of the qualities that I appreciated as his daughter was how much he loved my mother. I knew that my mother was his highest priority and I know he tried very hard to make sure she knew how much he loved her. My mom and dad were always together, and he just loved being with her.
Rebecca: bikes
One example of his love for my mom is this following story from his life book. These are in his own words. “One fine day I came home with the surprise of all surprises. I had been saving a few small amounts of money aside for what I called surprise money. I woke up one day and said to myself "today is the day I will surprise Karren" On the side I had been looking around at bicycles. I found two at a local hardware store that were within budget. The bikes were the three speed road bikes brown with chrome fenders. I bought them along with a kid carrier rack. I showed up at home and requested Karren to see what I had in the back of the truck. She went outside and saw the two bikes. She could not believe it. She cried most of the time I was putting the kid carrier rack on and pumping up the tires. We all loaded up and went for a good bike ride. This was the start of a whole new set of adventures for the family. Picnics, ice cream runs, park visits and many other activities. I bought a set of saddle baskets to hold our picnic goods. I was designated to carry lunch and one child. We went on many bike rides. Some were long, and some were just short trips. We had a sequence line up, dad leads, kids next and mom bring up the rear. Many an hour we spent as a family on our bikes.”
Johanna: My dad liked to have adventures away from home, but he made sure that my mom knew he was thinking of her while he was gone. Before he left to go hunting for a few days, he took the time to set up a scavenger hunt for my mom. We helped her follow his clues to the end where we found some money and instructions to go do something fun with it while he was gone. I was young, but I remember having an understanding that he cared about us even while he was away.
Rebecca: notes, mom/kids
My Dad was supportive in quiet and thoughtful ways, too. If we were ever struggling he would leave notes by our beds encouraging us and telling us he loved us. It was a pleasant surprise to find these when we woke up. He did the same for my mom. It was thoughtful.
Johanna: My dad kept my mom’s welfare at the forefront of his mind. Even toward the end of his life, he was doing things to help her and show her he loved her as much as he could. My mom’s birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks. He asked me to help him buy the gift he had in mind. We looked over options and he chose the one he wanted. Once it arrived, he requested I bring it to him so he could inspect it-probably to see if it needed to be modified. It passed inspection and he was so excited to be able to surprise her with a gift for her birthday.
Gospel intro: Rebecca
The Gospel of Jesus Christ was very important to my Dad. He made sure it was an important part of our home growing up. We had regular Family Home Evenings on Monday nights. We weren’t always the best at scripture studying, but we tried. He loved teaching us through object lessons. I remember once he and my mom taught us about eternal families while he was dressed up and my mom dressed up in her white wedding dress and talked about the importance of a temple marriage. As we grew older, he continued to teach us both by word and example. He made it a point to try and make it to as many blessings, baptisms, ordinations, and marriages as he could. We were so grateful he was able to participate in Daniel’s ordination to Elder a few months ago despite being in a wheelchair. He,unfortunately, passed away and missed Daniel’s setting apart as a missionary by only a few hours. I like to think about it as Daniel and my dad both getting set apart as missionaries the same day. Daniel to serve an earthly mission and my dad to serve a Heavenly mission. In our family as my Dad grew older, he shared his testimony often at family gatherings so that his posterity would know his feelings about the Savior.
Johanna: The personal and spiritual growth he experienced on his mission made it a pivotal event in his life. My dad’s choice to serve a mission came with personal sacrifice to make it happen. Throughout my childhood, I heard lots of stories from his mission and even had an opportunity to meet some of the people he came to know while he served. My dad learned about the power of the gospel in the lives of God’s children. That power to change and continually improve helped make my dad the person he came to be.
Rebecca: callings, missions, activity - did his best
My Dad took any task or calling he was given in the church seriously. He tried to always lengthen his stride and do them well whether it was a big calling or small. He took this approach to everything else in his life. If he made a commitment to do something he would always follow through to the best of his ability.
Johanna: My dad tried to be sensitive to spiritual promptings and always looked for opportunities to use the priesthood to bless others. At a particularly difficult time in my life, my dad listened to a prompting to visit me in the hospital. I had been there a couple of weeks as I was recovering from an illness. He had visited me several times before, but on this particular day I had just had a discouraging visit from my doctor. I was all alone and extremely upset. Within minutes my dad walked through my hospital room door. He helped give me a blessing and I am still so grateful for his love and support that day.
Rebecca: Testimony, read from book. First half
IN my Dad’s book of life stories he ended it with his personal testimony we would like to read.
Testimony, second half
Rebecca, closing words: “The more we learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ, the more we realize that endings here in mortality are not endings at all. They are merely interruptions--temporary pauses that one day will seem small compared to the eternal joy awaiting the faithful.” Dieter F. Uchtdorf
The final page of his life book he shared this scripture found in Timothy 4:6-7 “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith”
Yes, he certainly did keep the faith. We love you Dad.
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