Mattie Cecil Terry

Mattie Isobel Cecil Terry, (Baba), 90, of Sunrise Avenue, passed away Monday, July 14, 2014, at her residence after a year of declining health. A graveside service will be at 3 p.m., Wednesday, in Lexington City Cemetery, with the Rev. Doug Rowe and the Rev. David Kolb officiating. The family will greet friends at the graveside following the service and at other times at the Sunrise Avenue home. Mrs. Terry was born in Davidson County on March 25, 1924, the daughter of Joe King Cecil, Sr. and Lillie Tysinger Cecil. She was a graduate of Lexington Senior High School and attended the Woman’s College at the University of North Carolina Greensboro and North Carolina State University. She was married to Joe G. Terry in 1946. Mattie was an active lifetime member of First United Methodist Church of Lexington, past president of the Lexington Woman’s Club, member of the Charity League of Lexington and the Salem Chapter of the American Needlepoint Guild. Mattie was blessed with amazing artistic talent. She spent her lifetime creating hand painted ceramics, award winning needlepoint and embroidery work, intricate beaded artwork, smocked and knitted clothing. She found great joy teaching and sharing her talents with others. According to R. Shelton Jones, Associate Dean, at Forsyth Technical Institute at the time of her employment there, because of her loving and caring attitude toward people, she became one of their most sought after teachers. Mattie leaves behind a legacy of beautiful artwork; this includes her work creating designs, organizing and implementing the stitching of needlepoint communion kneeling cushions for the First Methodist Church of Lexington and Saint Paul United Methodist Church of Winston-Salem, as well as the kneeling cushion for the Lexington Memorial Hospital Chapel. Mrs. Terry was an avid gardener which a huge green thumb. In her later years she became a member of the Birds R Us Bluebird Society, raising mealworms to personally feed, care and house the local bluebirds. She was preceded in death by her husband, her parents and her sisters, Margaret Cecil Howell, Jennie Cecil Erickson and her brother, Joe King Cecil, Jr. Mattie is survived by daughter Susan Terry and friend Bobby Norton, and daughter Julee Cunningham and husband Calvin all of Lexington; three grandchildren, Cal Cunningham and wife Elizabeth, Jacob Cunningham and wife Camille and Catie Cunningham and Michael McGuire; and four great-grandchildren, Caroline, Will, Eleanor and J.R. Cunningham. The family would like to thank Hospice of Davidson County and her caregivers, Alicia, Deborah and Carol for their kind and loving attention during her illness. Memorials may be directed to Hospice of Davidson County, 200 Hospice Way, Lexington, North Carolina 27292 or the charity of the donor’s choice.