Terry Ray Loose

Terry Ray Loose (1946 - 2022) Terry Ray Loose was born in McCook, Nebraska in 1946, the first child of Riney and Eileen (Lehl). His brother Randy came along three years later and lived to challenge Terry as the contrarian, younger brother. Terry loved sports; was selected for his Legion baseball team as a high school freshman and set the McCook Junior High basketball single game scoring record with 28 points. Twice. According to Terry, the record still stands. He also fell in love with books and reading, claiming to have read every book in the McCook Public Library. He was a born storyteller, writing and weaving tales about sports heroics for the McCook High School newspaper. His sister Kim came later, when he was in high school, and he loved showing her off and taking her places. Enjoying the 17-yr age difference, she would famously tell people, “That’s not my father. He’s my brother.” Terry graduated from high school in 1964 and fulfilled the family dream by attending the University of Nebraska, the first in his family to attend college. To pay his tuition, he worked at Riney’s Loose and Smith’s Pool Hall during the summers, sometimes pool hustling and drinking beer surreptitiously out of a milkshake can. He also loved the Nebraska Cornhuskers football team, witnessing 5 national championships and an equal number of broken ottomans in the process. Terry pledged a fraternity, Phi Delta, and met some of his lifelong friends there. He also fell in love with a Delta Delta Delta sorority girl: Cheryl Christine Artz. She was a local girl from Lincoln working at Kresges, a five-and-dime store (now Kmart), and was also the first in her family to attend college. Their first date was at Valentino's Pizza. Cheryl was smart, funny, and beautiful and “he picked her” (or likely the other way around). They were married in 1970. Terry used his talent for telling stories and meeting people to land his first job peddling appliances for the Maytag Corporation in Colorado Springs. Terry and Cheryl gave birth to their son Greg, named in memory of a deceased fraternity brother. Cheryl would say, “I got you a little boy.” They soon took off for enemy territory, Oklahoma City, where they would have their second child, Erica, born premature. Not a medical professional, Terry claimed to have battled and fought to keep Erica alive. The family grew by one dachshund, Ginger, and they moved to Colorado, a place they would call home for the next 30 years. Terry coached baseball, started a business with Cheryl, started the college football Gambler Gazette, continuing his sophomore level writing prowess, made friends, and held a few (dozen) jobs, always the eternal optimist, Willy Loman salesman. He supported his son’s new youth hockey career despite not knowing anything about the sport and encouraged Erica in her creative talents–endeavors that shaped both of their lives. Both Erica and Greg attended college out of state, a dream both Terry and Cheryl had despite desperately missing them. Soon the empty nest years were filled with Colorado Rockies baseball– taking the RTD to Coors Field and meeting many people along the way. He listened to his “happy music” of Elvis, Buddy Holly, Johnny Cash. Terry and Cheryl also began attending plays together, a passion they would continue until his final months. Erica and Mark married in 1996 and Julie and Greg in 1997, adding two amazing in-laws to the family mix. They learned longevity in marriage from Terry and Cheryl’s impressive 52 years. In 1997 Terry quit alcohol and cigarettes, never to touch them again. While famously not a health nut, he hoped to stick around long enough to have a chance of being a grandfather. Kendra, Kara, Fuller, and Charlie became his new focal point (dachshunds Molly and Annie too) and they grew up creating many great memories with Grandma and Grandpa. In 2006, Terry suffered his first heart attack, a defining health moment that led Terry and Cheryl to relocate to Kansas City to be closer to Erica and Mark’s family. There, Terry fulfilled his lifelong dream of working for a professional sports team, the Kansas City Royals. As a Lancer, he sold season tickets; was awarded trips for him and Cheryl to travel to Ireland, Boston, New York, San Francisco, and Phoenix; and earned an engraved World Series ring in 2015. And so began the enduring and endearing sobriquet Royal Grandpa. Terry continued to survive many medical scares through the remaining years. His perseverance was remarkable. He bounced back from his medical rap sheet many times. He dreamed of seeing all of his grandchildren graduating high school, with his last grandson finishing in May. With one grandchild graduated from college, Terry will be looking down making sure the other three finish, as well. His cancer diagnosis was swift, but he enjoyed every last one of his remaining days catching up with family and friends in person and through FaceTime; seeing the Colorado Avalanche win the Stanley Cup; and eating a bucket list worth of desserts such as Strawberry Frostys, Cinnabons, ice cream, and Erica-made cake pops and cookies. Terry was opinionated, to say the least. He hated soccer, wheat bread, and vegetables on pizza. He loved watching political shows on MSNBC, Bill Maher, baseball, Draft Kings, and John Grisham novels. Curiously, he became a New York Yankees fan. He loved watching Shohei Ohtani and Bobby Witt Jr. “Hemi” also won the Gambler Gazette in his final season. Because, as a storyteller, he loved having the last word, finally making his way to the “Penthouse,” going out on top with a rich, storied life. And he always loved his family. Terry is survived by his wife Cheryl; his daughter, Erica and son-in-law, Mark; his son, Greg, and daughter-in-law, Julie; his grandchildren Kendra, Kara, Fuller, and Charlie; his sister, Kim; dachshund, Annie.

Terry Ray Loose

October 1, 1946 - July 5, 2022