Terry Allen Ward Sr.

Terry Allen Ward Sr. 83, Passed away peacefully on Sunday, June 25, 2023.

A graveside service will be held at 2:00 P.M. Thursday, June 29, 2023, at Evergreen Memory Gardens with Rev. Ralph Clayton officiating. The family will receive friends on Wednesday, June 28, 2023, from 6:00-8:00 P.M. at Wilkerson Funeral Home. A memorial service will be held at another date.

Terry was born in Durham County to the late James Woodrow Ward and Muriel Inez Brame Ward. He was an incredibly hard worker and spent 37 years at the American Tobacco Company working as a fixer. At the age of 53 Terry finally decided to retire where he would spend time with friends, children and his grandchildren.

The simplest pleasures in life brought great joy to Terry. He loved sitting on the couch enjoying his westerns, Shane is a prime example,  and reminiscing on the “good ole days”. A favorite story of his to tell was the story about his birth and how his father was working in New York. When his mother found out she was expecting she took the long trip back home to North Carolina where Terry was born, she wasn’t having a “yankee” baby. Terry has many stories over the years, he could tell you about a time he stumbled onto a pregnant goat, after maybe one too many drinks, that he claimed as his own to raise with her two babies or the time he called his children home to take a bath and surprised them with an alligator waiting for them in the tub. After his mother and Aunt came to take the alligator back, they pleaded with the store not to sell him any more exotic animals. Terry was one of a kind and to know him was to love him. If you’ve spent any amount of time with Terry you know he would love to tell a joke or two and maybe even take it a step too far - but all in good fun. He has a sense of humor like no other and could make you laugh until you cried. He was be deeply missed.

Along with his parents, he is preceded in death by his sister, Phyllis Ward Howerton.

Terry is survived by his wife of 62 years, Dorothy Sue Ward; children, Terry Allen Ward II and wife, Lisa, Amanda Ward Brooks, Susan Ward Chilton, James Woodrow Ward; grandchildren, Cari Emery, JamieLynn Freer, Skylar Chilton, Devan Ward, Stacy Ward, and Autumn Spiers; great grandchildren, Malaiya Freer, Levi Freer; brother, James “Eddie” Ward and wife, Carol as well as a large a loving group of extended family and friends. 

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Saint Jude Children’s Research Hospital at 262 Danny Thomas Place, Memphis, TN 38105.