Just one week ago we were informed of the sudden death of our friend Terri. Those of us who have followed her 'Eye' threads will recall her many adventures through life, including her emergency evacuation from Kuwait during the Iraqi invasion. She lost many friends at that time and, like Pakistan a few years earlier, she had to leave the country penniless with just the few possessions she could carry.

Terri was born in the Birmingham area of the UK and was mainly brought up by her grandmother. From a very young age Terri was capable of looking after herself and, with her 'hippy style', she began to move through the local communities experiencing different cultures and beliefs. In between her International travels, Terri even lived on a houseboat/barge, travelling the network of canals through the Midlands to Shropshire and back.

Although she had been married a number of times – three times, I think – Terri never had children; she gave all her love and energy to her stepchildren when they stayed with her. However, there was always a sadness about not having a child of her own to love and nurture. In many ways we, the denizens of hootoo, became her brothers, sisters, sons and daughters, as well as her best fiends (not a typo, that was Terri's spelling of friend).

Moving on to Angoulême, France, Terri somehow managed to scrape together a working computer 'The Beast', for which she fought pitched battles with the 'E D (bloody) F!' to keep her electricity supply, and, also her connection to the outside world. From November 2002 Terri has regaled us with her stories of 'The mad English Woman'; indeed, no thread was safe from Terri's smut treatment. Her sense of humour held no bounds!

I have known Terri since about 2003, when I met her on this site, yabbering about life in general and the various mad stuff she gets up to. We struck up a friendship and have been mostly conversing on either here or Msn for 7 years.

As I am Irish, she always told me stories about her childhood and how her daddy was Irish, and that one day she would love to live here and have a nice peaceful fulfilled life with animals (for some reason a Donkey being the most desired animal in her managerie), grow her own vegetables and flowers, and live a fairly Eco friendly chilled life.
Where she was, in her head and in the world in France was rather chaotic and stressful at the best of times...

We became close friends and I found her fascinating, highly intelligent and well informed on any number of topics, the life she had led, the mad capers she had been involved in, and how her resilience despite several ailments that would knock bigger people than herself down, allowed her to always accept new challenges and keep going in all sorts of difficult circumstances. She always talked it out on here with her friends, and always bounced back. She had a wonderful outlook on life in general and saw the most optimistic things in every day circumstances.

Fast forward about 5 years to when she met Peter, with whom there was an instant chemistry, not to mention shared interests and life goals, and they hit it off... He, like a knight in shining Armour, drove couple thousand miles to France in his van and 'rescued' her and brought her to his remote country house in the west of Ireland, where she started her new life as a 'partner' and 'half of something'. They stayed with me on their long journey back, and I met her for the first time in person. It was like we had known each other all our lives and we got on like a house on fire, chatted most of the night, and most weeks would phone each other up once she was settled.

– An extract taken from the journal of AyeBee PW

I met Terri when I first began posting here in 2002. She was one of the first people I met here, and introduced me to many people I now call 'friend'...

She shared my love of music, so I used to send her stuff to listen to, and in return, she sent me little trinkets she'd made (including a catnip mouse for Herman the cat). I used to pick random things up off the street to send her for her cheeseboxes¹; when I was employed briefly at a business which shared facilities with a clock manufacturer, I gathered up a bunch of clock hands to send her, and when she received them, her response was as if I'd sent her a million dollars.

– Psychocandy

We mustn't forget Terri's cat, Yoda – her constant companion in times of adversity. She is just as feisty as Terri. Not ashamed of washing her private parts in front of the nuns across the street, much to Terri's glee.

I'm sure Terri's fiends will leave us some prime examples of their conversations similar to this...

I've just seen the sad news. I was a friend of Terri's when she first joined h2g2 and lived in France, I even visited her there a couple of times. I was really shocked to read that she'd died.

I was thinking of her only this morning. She came to visit me in Birmingham and caused a flood in our flat!

– Dr Zen in Lil's Atelier

A number of Researchers visited Terri in France, and more recently, at the farm in Ireland. TRiG being one of her favourites, as he would maintain 'The Beast', as well as taking an interest in Peter's work and the animals. Snailrind attended Terri's 'Party in the Bog' last year. I believe it was a tremendous success.

Despite her rapidly deteriorating health, earlier this year Terri travelled to Mannheim for her very first official Hootoo Meet. The following quotes are taken from lil's journal:

I met her at the Mannheim meet in April this year. Here's Gnomon's Meet Report.

Terri was not a shy person. She did what she wanted to do.

We were only loosely acquainted so there aren't any anecdotes I could tell.

She died much too young. It would have been her 55th birthday this Thursday.

– Bel.

As Bel said, she was not shy. She was the most outgoing person I ever met; she would be classified as a crazy woman by most people who encountered her in the street. But she was actually a great listener as well. She had just applied to work for the Samaritans, volunteers who talk to depressed people who are contemplating suicide. I think Terri would have been very good at this, as she had a lovely warm personality and could see the good things in life.

Terri was a bit of handful – her conversations were interspersed with talk about farts, the drugs she had taken and practical jokes she had played on people. She was a semi-reformed alcoholic and dangerous when let near a drink. This was the devil of her Zendevil name. But she had the Zen side as well; her dodgy leg had forced her to give up work, and she sat and thought quite a bit, allowing her to realise what was important in life.

What a loss!

– Gnomon

Peter and Terri had just returned from Italy, where they attended a wedding. She appeared in fine health and attended a meeting with the Samaritans on Wednesday evening – Terri had applied to be a volunteer councilor with the organisation. On the Thursday morning she was feeling unwell, she visited the doctor and there appeared to be no cause for concern. On Sunday, 19th September, 2010, Terri slipped quietly away in her sleep.

Terri was born 23rd September, 1955. She was taken on her last journey on her 55th birthday, and laid to rest in a beautiful churchyard on an Irish hillside - I can just hear that brummie voice saying:

'Ya know, powims are written about things loike that!'

Please give your thoughts to the special man who gave Terri her dreams. I will leave the last words of this Tribute to him:

This evening eventually I found the time to read through all the hootoo messages you kindly sent me the link for. It made me very happy to read how important she had been for many members. Terri, in her black moments, often complained that with her death she will leave no trace on this earth; she has no children, and nobody will remember her. I believe she was wrong there. She did make a major impact on this earth; certainly on my life, but apparently on many others too.

Take care,

Peter

Various Contributors

lil

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