Obituary of Terence (Terry) Boyd Telford

In Loving Memory Terry Telford April 4, 1937 – January 7, 2016 Terry Telford was born in Portage La Prairie, MB, to Catherine (Cassie) Grant and William (Boyd) Telford. He spent his first couple of years in Amaranth, MB, and then moved to Quill Lake, SK. He was predeceased by both his parents, and his only sibling, younger brother Dwight Telford. Terry never cared much for school, and instead focused much of his energy on sports. He was a natural athlete but particularly enjoyed hockey, baseball and curling, true to his prairie roots. Terry had many friends which he treated like family, all of them lifelong – which tells you a lot about his character. He was kind, fair, loyal, fun, always had your back and he always rooted for the under-dog. In his teens Terry decided it would be more fun to join the Royal Canadian Navy than to finish school. There he trained as an electrician’s helper, but again excelled at sports. He learned how to dive, played on the Navy hockey and curling teams and excelled at boxing. After five years hoping and waiting for his ‘sea legs’ to appear while travelling the world, Terry went back to Quill Lake to help his dad operate ‘Telford’s Red & White’ grocery store. Not long after returning to Saskatchewan, Terry met Sylvia Clifford at a friend’s wedding. It was love at first sight. He impressed Sylvia with his chivalry and gentleman’s nature, which he carried on for over 50 years. They were married six months after they met – tying the knot on March 17, 1962. Nine months, two days later Michelle Ann, the first of their three daughters was born. Tracy Lee came second, then their youngest, Nicole (Niki) Ray. Early in their marriage, Terry rediscovered his love of all things western, having spent many summers on the farm in Manitoba with his beloved aunts Marge and Vivian. Sylvia claims when she married Terry she actually married Terry, plus pals Frank Fulop, Jerry Walker and all their horses. He loved to ride and race chariots when he wasn’t playing hockey, baseball, hunting, and fishing, water skiing with the Krienke’s or curling. Since the grass didn’t grow under Sylvia’s feet either, their girls were raised ‘on the go’, but learning important lessons from their dad the whole time. Be kind, volunteer, have civic pride, help your neighbor, lend a hand, have compassion for all people and all animals…all lessons shared by Terry along the way. Although the family moved to Saskatoon in the mid-80s Terry never stopped being a grocer. Even at the end of his life he was still giving instructions on where to buy the cheapest light bulbs in town. After he retired he said goodbye to the prairies and moved to Alberta to quickly become the best Papa in the world. Terry was extremely proud of his two grandchildren, Roam (16) and Taiga (13). There was nothing he wouldn’t do for them. He even started ‘recycling’ in his 70’s, because they said so. He loved feeding them pop and sugared cereal, slapping their horses on the ass when they were least expecting it, and teasing them. He looked after, picked up, dropped off, watched, waited, laced, unlaced, saddled, unsaddled, wiped tears, gave driving lessons, applied sunscreen and spit polished boots for them. There was no limit to what Papa would do for those kids, and he loved it all. Terry had a quiet, kind nature, but was a still a stubborn man at heart. His favorite response to an invitation of any kind was ‘we’ll see’. If he said ‘we’ll see’ really quickly after a question – that was a definite NO. If he hesitated, even for a moment, that was a definite maybe, and if ‘we’ll see’ came after a long pause, he was almost surely on board. He helped his sons-in-law with many do-it-yourself projects, mostly because he loved telling stories about them afterwards: like how he was forever picking up after John, or how Lutz took three days to plan a 5-minute project. The newest family member, daughter-in-law Michelle Katherine, made his family complete. Terry had a lifelong love for his family (immediate and extended), friends, all animals, gardening and well-done meat and potatoes. He loved all his daughters' pets as much as he loved his own and enjoyed many hours at the farm doing things the way he thought they should be done. Terry lost his battle with cancer on January 7, 2016, 78 years young. Wherever he was headed we know he arrived an hour early with a full tank of gas. Missing him daily are his wife Sylvia, daughters Michelle (Michelle Katherine) Telford, Tracy (Lutz) Kintzel, Niki (John) Thorsteinsson and grandchildren Roam and Taiga. Funeral Service Friday, January 22, 2016 2:00 PM Stettler Funeral Home, Stettler, Alberta Memorial Donations may be made to Red Deer Hospice or a charity of your own choice.