'She was a gift': Parents donate $100K to D-R in memory of daughter with special needs

DIGHTON — Lisa A. Terry can't be stopped from being a positive influence on the Dighton-Rehoboth community, even after her passing.

Lisa had learning disabilities that included mild cerebral palsy, deafness and being legally blind. It didn't stop her from attending Dighton-Rehoboth schools up until high school graduation and working in the mail delivery department at Bristol County Savings Bank in Taunton for over 20 years.

Her parents — longtime D-R school committee member Janice Terry and her husband Charles — recently donated $100,000 to the Dighton-Rehoboth Regional School District for special education programming in honor of their daughter, who died at age 51 in April.

The Terrys said they are grateful for all the special education teachers in the school district who helped to prepare Lisa for her career at the bank. 

They wish to honor their daughter's legacy with a donation for the purpose of continuing to help others with disabilities.

"She was a gift," Janice Terry said. 

"Bubbly, happy. She brought no excess baggage to her work. Everyone who responded at the funeral said how much they liked her. They mentioned her smile, her hugs, her laugh, her infectious personality."

Charles Terry remembers the time last year Lisa was about to start on a rather simple jigsaw puzzle. 

"I said, 'That's no challenge!'," her father recalled. "She said to me, 'Well, my entire life is a challenge.'"

The Lisa Terry they describe, however, took that challenge in stride.

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Sometimes, Janice said, Lisa would wish she didn't have a disability.

"But she accepted the way she was," Janice said. "She had a sense of humor. She took life as it came. She liked shopping, shopping, shopping, especially Vera Bradley pocketbooks. She had at least 30 or more. She and I talked together a lot. I miss our sitting down and talking at night. She could carry on a good conversation."  

When she reached adulthood, Lisa first worked for a non-profit company, then briefly in the mail room for Trust Insurance in Taunton, before ending up at Bristol County Savings Bank.   

Charles emphasized that she worked for the bank not at the bank. She worked in the corporate headquarters. She was responsible for sorting and delivering the mail throughout all three floors. She worked six hours a day for many years, before scaling back to four-and-a-half hours.

She stepped away from the job in February 2020 because of the continuing concerns over COVID-19, Janice said. If it weren't for those COVID-19 worries, she could've worked a little longer before her health deteriorated, she said.   

As a bank employee for over 20 years, Lisa had a 401k plan that netted over $100,000 that her parents inherited. Janice said the Dighton-Rehoboth Regional School Committee is already considering using the funds she and her husband have donated for a program to benefit the older, age 18-plus, special education students in the district.

Janice and Charles say they know Lisa would appreciate what they are doing with the money.

The Lisa Terry that Michael Morin, her co-worker at Bristol County Savings Bank, describes certainly would appreciate the generous gesture.

"She was a sweetheart," Morin said. "We worked together for over 20 years. I had to train her. She was nervous and afraid at first. But once she was out of her shell, she was a funny kid and a good worker. 

"She wasn't a big fan of change. When they changed our location in the bank, it never went well. But as soon as she was set up at her desk, there'd be all her family photos on display, especially her nieces and nephews that she'd talk about all the time."

She would always ask him about his own niece and nephew too, Morin said. The day they came in with their mother, he said, "she was so excited to meet them in person, and they had a ball with her. Not much work got done that day."

When she took the mail cart on her daily delivery rounds, he said, a job that usually took an hour took longer because she would stop to talk and ask about everyone else's family and pets. She even knew all her co-workers' loved ones and pets by name.  When everyone was home-bound because of COVID-19, she would have her parents drive her to Morin's house to visit him from the car. 

He admitted there were days Lisa wasn't feeling well and he took over some of her duties. But that didn't happen often. 

"I looked out for her," he said. "But she held her own. No doubt about that. She was a good worker. And when she was out and I would do her rounds everyone asked where she was, was she OK? She was a character, and I mean that in the best of ways."

Dighton-Rehoboth Director of Special Education Kristin Donahue knew Lisa Terry only from the way Janice Terry described her. That alone impressed her. 

"I was impressed that she became such a vital member of society," Donahue said, "that her disability didn't deter her from reaching her goals."

Donahue said this will be a planning year for any programming inspired by Lisa's legacy. Currently, the district is assessing its special education curriculum and needs. From that assessment will come the recommendations to change or or add to programming. 

"Lisa had such a positive post-educational life," Donahue said. "We'll want to see what special education programming needs to be enhanced for students like her."