Terrell Bridges, 87. passed away Thursday, March 25, 2021.
Mass of Christian Burial: 10:30 am, Thursday, April 8, 2021 at St Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Keller.
Burial: 1:30 pm, Thursday, April 8, 2021, Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery
He was born April 5, 1933 in Birmingham, Alabama, and raised by his mom, dad, and U.S. Steel in a company town, immortalized in the song 16 Tons “I Owe my Soul to the Company Store”.
Terrell attended catholic schools due to a quirk of fate. His dad, Ted, went to the Michigan School of Mines. Naturally, he met and married a Yankee and brought her home, for goodness sake…
Terrell graduated from John Carroll High School. It took a daily good walk, three buses and a trolley to get there. He attended Auburn University, where “anything over a ‘C’ was a wasted effort”.
This attitude delivered him to the U.S. Army and the Korean War.
Much to the delight of his mother, Terrell was deployed to Japan. He was issued a gun and not bullets, and spent his days playing football for the U.S. Army Yokohama Rams at military bases.
Terrell returned to Auburn University and graduated with a degree in Industrial Design. He worked at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. where two of his projects are still on exhibit – The Blue Whale and the Hope Diamond.
With a flip of a coin, Terrell left the museum and D.C., jumped into his little TR3 and headed west to Los Angeles, California. He lived at the beach, played volleyball, and dated flight attendants while he knocked on doors looking for work. Eventually, a Human Resources gentleman stated, “We usually don’t hire walk-ins, but I think you’ll do”. Terrell worked for this company (Jefferson Smurfit) for 33 years. He became General Manager and was awarded “Plant of the Year” honors before retiring.
Survivors: Terrell leaves behind his wife of 55 years, Karen; five sons, James Christopher, Paul, Matthew, Joseph, and John, and nine grandchildren.
