Terry Wayne Blair was the 1st born son of Glenda (Tierce) and Frank Wayne Blair, born Oct 16, 1951 in Aumsville, Marion County, Oregon. He also had a sister, Jan, and a brother, Mickey. Terry attended and graduated from Cascade High School in Turner, Oregon in 1969. He attended Oregon State University in the Fall of 1969, but felt he wasn't quite ready for college yet, so worked instead on his parents' farm, full time. He met Kathie on July 5th, 1970 and they started going steady one month later. They became engaged Dec 5th, 1970, and were married on Dec 29th, 1970. Terry continued to work for his parents while his wife worked for the State's Motor Vehicles Division as a file clerk. The couple lived, at first, in an apartment in Salem. After Kathie became pregnant they moved to a duplex in Keizer, a suburb of Salem. Kathie worked until two weeks before their baby was due, a week after their 1st anniversary, on Jan 2nd, 1972, but the baby was going to come when he wanted, which wasn't until just over two weeks later; they drove to the hospital in the midst of a snowstorm the evening of Jan 17th, 1972, and their son arrived just after 8:30 a.m.on January 18th, 1972. Because he was a boy, Terry named him Anthony, with his father's middle name [had he been a girl, Kathie would have named the baby, giving it her middle name]. Anthony Wayne would be the only child from their marriage as well as both Kathie's and Terry's only child. Following the baby's birth, Terry worked the green chain gang at a lumber mill in Idanha for a month, but the job didn't work out, so he worked part time for his parents on their farm. Their marriage had many problems, mostly financial, and the couple separated twice, in March and in May, 1972, then Terry found a job as a driver for a gravel company, hoping things would get better, but too many issues had come up and, in mid August, 1972, the couple separated and Kathie filed for a divorce, moving in with her father until she could get settled. Terry enlisted into the Air Force in 1973 but was discharged due to unknown issues. He remarried briefly, then divorced. He later met Joan who was a bank teller, a divorced woman with three children. They married Sep 3, 1976 and lived in Aumsville. Terry's ex-wife and son had moved back to Oregon in November 1976 so she could be closer to her mother and sisters and so Anthony could see his father every other weekend. Anthony became quite close to his stepbrother and stepsisters, enjoying the time he spent with them. But Terry's marriage to Joan ended in divorce in Oct 9 1979. It was after this that he ran into a woman who lived on her parents' neighboring farm, and who had attended high school with him briefly as she was three years younger. Time had made a big difference, however, and Terry and Karen Kremer began to date each other, realizing that they were meant for each other and, with that, they married on Dec 15, 1979. Terry told me it was the happiest time of his life, although they weren't able to have children together, something Karen wanted very much. They were deeply in love, however, which was what mattered most of all. Tragically, Karen had the same genetic problem as her father, which had caused heart failure for him at a young age. Now, that same genetic problem presented itself in Karen, what is referred to as a "Triple A" (Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm), in which a main aorta to the heart suddenly ruptures. ("Without immediate intervention, the patient can die." according to medical references searched out on line, and according to my physician as my father has this condition) Karen died in 2001 at the age of 46, a month before her 47th birthday. Terry was beside himself with grief. About 6 weeks after her loss, Terry left Oregon without telling anyone where he was going. Anthony, who had married and was now 29 years old, and his wife had arranged to come down to visit him, but they had arrived, only to find an empty house. We finally found he had moved to Soap Lake, WA., where he tried to begin anew. He apparently worked at a number of jobs but nothing seemed to work out for him, including finding anyone to care about again. He did briefly remarry, but it again ended in divorce. (We later found that he'd told her that everyone in his family was dead, which, I think meant that everyone he cared about was dead to him, although I don't understand why he abandoned his son.) He was very depressed, had sold many personal items to make ends meet, and finally ended his life on his 61st birthday. At first, no one looked for family members as he'd said they all were deceased, but someone finally did contact his poor mother, who had lost her younger son (Terry's younger brother, Mickey) and her husband (Terry's father) all too recently. Terry had left a note, of sorts. He wanted his ashes buried with Karen's but that wasn't possible, so his mother scattered them at Karen's grave, the next best thing. Terry is survived by his mother, Glenda Blair, his sister, Janet, and his only son, Anthony (from his 1st marriage), as well as numerous nieces and nephews. Terry's father passed in 2009 and his younger brother passed in 2010. He had become terribly depressed after Karen's sudden death in 2001 and never got over it, wanting to be with her. I hope he found the peace that he wanted so badly, with Karen, in Paradise. May they Rest In Peace together.
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It has been difficult to decide whether to finally give the actual cause of his death or not, but it caused those who knew him so much pain that I felt something should be said. Please try to think twice before deciding to take your own life. The pain you are feeling is nothing compared to the pain that will be felt by those you leave behind. I had to tell our son that his father was dead; it upset him very much and affected him in ways I don't know about as he won't discuss it with me. His mother is devastated, as is his sister, who now has lost both of her brothers. It is just such a shame as he left behind his mother, sister and only son, plus nieces, nephews and many others who cared about him.
Sep 19, 2014