Memorials › Gladys Maurine Cook Territo
Gladys Maurine Cook Territo
25 Apr 1918 – 21 Aug 2022
| Birth | 25 Apr 1918 |
| Death | 21 Aug 2022 |
| Cemetery | Grove Hill Memorial Park Dallas , Dallas County , Texas , USA |
| Added by | JG on 16 Jan 2023 |
| FaG | https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/248423533 |
Bio
Maurine Territo of Mesquite died Sunday at the age of 104. In her length of life, as in everything else, she was a woman of great perseverance. She was born in Murchison, Texas on April 25, 1918 while World War I and the Spanish Flu global pandemic raged on. She died August 21, 2022 in Mesquite, Texas in the midst of another global pandemic. Her father was a semi-pro baseball pitcher. He died when Maurine was just 6 after being hit by a line drive. That tragedy marked the start of a hard-scrabble childhood and many, many lessons in perseverance. She and her three brothers worked hard to help their widowed mother eke out a living around the cotton fields of East Texas. Hers was a childhood of flour-sack dresses and cardboard-bottom shoes. She graduated from Kerens High School but was able to walk across the stage only because her Sunday School teacher paid for her cap and gown. She married Louis Territo from nearby Corsicana in 1939. They would be married 51 years. For the last seven of those years Maurine was the constant caregiver to Louis. He had suffered a devastating stroke that left him paralyzed on one side and unable to speak. It was a beautiful example of love – and perseverance. When the youngest of her three children began school, Maurine looked for a job that would let her work around the kids' school hours. That's how she became an Avon Lady, wearing white gloves as she went door to door in her Pleasant Grove area of Dallas. She built a successful business, not just selling Avon cosmetics but also building strong, lifelong friendships in house after house, on street after street. The white gloves soon went away but Maurine kept selling Avon for more than 57 years. Maurine simply got things done. She was PTA president at her children's schools. She never missed a Sunday with all three children in the pew beside her at Pleasant Grove First Baptist Church. She was mowing her own yard in her 80s. She was leading the pack of mall walkers every morning in her 90s. And she was still selling Avon beyond her 100th birthday. Perseverance, if anyone asks. That's how you get to be 104. Gladys Maurine Territo was preceded in death by her husband, Louis Territo; by two sons, Louis Territo Jr. and Larry Territo; by a step-daughter, Lorna Fluker, and a grandson, Zachary Territo. Her survivors include one daughter, Lori Territo Blow, and husband Steve, daughter-in-law, Linda Territo, grandchildren Myrla Pate and husband Eddie, Suzanne Fluker, Gena Caluya and husband Brett, Ali Watkins and husband Jay, Corey Blow and wife Allyson, and Tony Territo and wife Candiss. She is also survived by 15 great-grandchildren and 12 great-great-grandchildren. The family extends heartfelt thanks to Myra Padillo for her good care and companionship with Maurine these last few years. Thanks also to Louise Kucera, who was always a favorite visitor.
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