Terry's Obituary

Terry Allen Pace

APRIL 15, 1950 – OCTOBER 11, 2020

Terry Pace, age 70, died Sunday, October 11, 2020, at the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville, Virginia, after a short illness. He was born April 15, 1950, in Booneville, Mississippi to Henry W. Pace and Valera Tennison Pace.

In 1971 he married Dale Ann Schrock who survives. He is also survived by his daughter, Jocelyn Pace (Tom Lynch) of Charlottesville, Virginia, and his son Brandon Pace (Megan) of Melbourne, Florida. He loved his three grandchildren Ronan Lynch, Aenea Lynch and Brynlee Pace. Also surviving is an uncle, Dan Nichols, of Goshen, Indiana. He was 

preceded in death by his parents.

Terry was a 1968 graduate of Concord High School in Dunlap, Indiana, and Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. He taught school for five years at Tri High School near New Castle and then entered the business world eventually working in sales for a garage door manufacturer. He and his wife raised their family while living in Mooreland in central Indiana. After retirement, Terry and Dale traveled for 15 years in their motorhome. They had recently moved to Florida.

Terry requested cremation and there will be no public service. He is being cared for by the Cremation Society of Virginia. At a later date, his ashes will be interred at Brown Cemetery in Millersburg, Indiana.

Contributions in Terry's memory may be made to the American Heart Association or a local animal rescue/shelter.

Last evening, my loving husband of 49 years, Terry, passed away from complications of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, which contributed to septic shock.

He had been in Methodist Hospital in Indy for a week, released on October 5, and we then traveled to Virginia to see our daughter Jocelyn and family before we headed back to Florida. But he developed more problems on the way to Virginia and when we arrived, I took him to the ER at UVA. They were extremely diligent and we thought the care they were giving was working. However, yesterday things started to turn for the worse and his body/heart could not maintain necessary blood pressure. They put him on 3 aggressive meds to counter this, but it still was dropping. They told me it was not likely he would live through the night even with treatment. So in accordance with his wishes, we withdrew support and continued to administer pain meds to maintain comfort. He said all he wanted to do was sleep, which he had not really done for days.  His passing was peaceful just about 45 minutes later with Jocelyn and I there. Brandon flies in today.

Terry wished to be cremated, so that will be done. With Covid still looming, I don't believe a service would be appropriate and he himself hated the entire funeral process. So he will get one last ride in Phaeton Place when I take his ashes back to Florida. My plan then is to return to Indiana next summer with the kids/grandkids to inter his ashes in Brown Cemetery, where my family is all buried. I will publish that when the time comes, but it will be next summer.

Our hearts are broken, but we are thankful we had Terry for 22 years after his heart attacks at which point they gave him 72 hours to live. It was a good life even then.

Terry Pace, 1950-2020

The best of times, the worst of times. . . , part 3

Our visits over, we made our way to central Indiana to have our final doctor appointments in Indiana, as we are changing over to Florida doctors, since we have a house there. At this point it was becoming more clear that Terry was in trouble. . . brain fog, slurring/stuttering and shuffling his feet, tremors. Long story short after setting up camp, I drove him to Methodist ER in Indianapolis, a 60 mile drive. He was admitted. It's been a roller coaster week, but really have mostly good news. He thought he may have had a stroke, but that wasn't it. They ran every test there was. The problem was that he has taken so many heart meds over the years, they have started affecting his other organs. So he was there for almost a week while they "detoxed" his body. They have changed some meds, dropped several, added one. Today he got his ICD changed out to a new improved model and he was discharged later today. Whew. I was tired of driving back and forth to Indy.

We see our GP tomorrow for the last time, then heading to Charlottesville to see our daughter and family, then home to Florida. We are following up with the heart doctor via telehealth and the liver doctor in Indy is setting up a follow up with a colleague in Tampa. So all is good. Terry is better, albeit tired, than he has been in a long time. These meds have been working on him a long time. . . like slowly being poisoned. Some he cannot take anymore. Hoping it all works out.

Hopefully with living in Florida 8-10 miles from our doctors, it will be easy to get the care he/we need quickly. We still plan to travel but that will probably be mostly in the summer. 

All things considered, we've got a lot done since we left Florida. Visited with Brandon's, lost our toad, found our toad--continued on, drove to Indiana, windshield replaced, refrigerator replaced, visited with Mom twice, visited Uncle Dan, spent a week in the hospital with Terry, but he got detoxed and on the road to recovery, got his ICD replaced and saw our internist for the last time. Busy couple weeks.

Till next time. . .

Dale