About Terry

Terry Pettey was born at Johnston Willis hospital on April 29, 2002, at 1:47 pm. He made his appearance into the world roughly 45 minutes before his cousin. It was a busy day for our family.

Terry was a happy baby, although we did notice a few oddities in his early years. He’d say mama or dada & then lose the word, and he didn’t show a startle response to loud noises. We discovered at 12 months that he had massive ear infections and probably had for months, so Terry had tubes put in. Eventually, three sets of them and his adenoids and tonsils removed to help reduce the infections and clear his airway.

By two, Terry was in early intervention at Alberta Smith Elementary. He had two excellent teachers Miss Bess and Miss Amy. If only we could have cloned Miss Bess, our lives would have been so much easier. He loved her & would actually do what he was told with the caveat of “Do we need to tell Miss Bess?” He showed us all his mischievous nature as he would cross his eyes at one of his fellow students just because he knew it would upset him, and he thought it was funny.

At three, Terry was diagnosed with Smith-Magenis Syndrome. This created a massive change in our life as Terry was no longer delayed in his development but permanently disabled. Terry spent his third birthday with his dad and mom in Cincinnati at the PRISMS annual conference. While there, Terry got to meet other SMSers and Drs. Smith & Magenis, the discoverers of Smith-Magenis Syndrome, and participate in 3D facial scanning.

Terry started elementary school at Woolridge Elementary in the Moderate Mentally Disabled class. He continued at Woolridge until his 5th-grade year when it became clear that the public-school environment was not adequate to support his needs.

He transitioned to Grafton, then a short stint at The Faison Center – where they were also not equipped to handle Terry’s uniqueness. So back to Grafton, he went where he was loved, cared for, and challenged to grow. Terry has had the support of wonderful teachers and therapists from the Grafton school and was so happy to finally return to in-person learning on March 15 after having spent a year at home due to the pandemic.

Terry spent his last days enjoying spring break by listening to his favorite songs on Spotify, watching YouTube videos, and trying to finagle as many baths with his toy-filled bath bombs as he could.

Terry’s Favorites…

Colors: Fluorescent Orange, Red & Blue

Toys: Sully from Monsters Inc. and Buzz Lightyear, anything that came out of his bath bomb, notebooks, ring clips & binder clips

Videos: dominos, roller-coasters, industrial shredders, Spongebob, Power Rangers (in Japanese), Asian miniature food videos

Movies: Monster’s Inc (#1), Deadpool, The Lion King, Aladdin, Spirit, Mary Poppins Returns, Newsies (or Cowboy’s as he called it), Thor Ragnarök (because of the Hulk), the original How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Songs: Shiny (from Moana), Dixie, Big Bad John, The Bad Touch, Airplane, Dirty Harry, North to Alaska, Do Your Ears Hang Low?

Obituary

Terrence Michael Pettey passed away on April 7, 2021, at the age of 18. Terry, as he was known to friends and family, is survived by his parents Troy and Alice Pettey, his brother Andrew Parsons and his sister Cassandra Pettey.

There will be a Receiving of Family and Friends on Tuesday, April 13, 2021, from 4 PM to 6 PM at Richmond Primitive Baptist Church. 5810 Qualia Road, Chesterfield, VA 23832.

Please send remembrances of our Ter-bear to terrypettey@gmail.com.

In Lieu of flowers, donations may be made to PRISMS (Parents and Researchers Interested in Smith-Magenis Syndrome) at www.prisms.org