Barbara “Bee”Jean Terrell, 88, departed this life Saturday, March 23, 2024, at the Flo and Phil Hospice House in Jonesboro. She was born March 22, 1936, in Harrisburg, Arkansas, the daughter of Thomas G. Hunn and Maxine Talbert Hunn. Barbara was born in the brown house across from Woodbriar , now owned by Restoration Ministries. She’s lived a long life and outlived her husband Poppy- Edsel Terrell, her son/my dad- Andy Terrell, her daughter- Jeanna Lynn Terrell, and most of her many friends that she loved like sisters and grew up with almost her entire life in Harrisburg.
I , her granddaughter, wanted to update anyone who does know Bee or has crossed her path and knows the whirlwind of a women that she was. She taught me so many things growing up and was/is the epitome of the perfect grandma. Here’s a couple the many things she taught me that I want share and to forever remember. I’ll forever love Hershey bars dipped in peanut butter, spearmint gum and caffeine free Diet Coke. Those were staples at her house. Singing lullabies to my children and rocking them. I can still remember her singing and rocking me, Madison, and Zoe to sleep. How to drive. She took me out to the farm in her Cadillac when I was 10 and let her rip on those gravel roads. How to keep a clean house. This one didn’t stick for me on most days, but her house was immaculate always. I’d walk in and she’d be scrubbing her tile floors with a toothbrush.
How to tell a story. She could tell a story like no one else I ever met. Some of her stories I heard a million times but loved them just as much because she’s so dang funny. Her voice and laugh was like no one else’s either. Country as a turnip green and so sweet but rings loud and clear. To not be bashful. She didn’t have a shy bone in her body and taught me all the things about being a woman and at the time I cringed at first but as I got older, I realized those aren’t things to be ashamed of, we all do these things, and go through changes and it’s important to talk about with your teenagers. What a happy marriage looks like. She cared for and loved Poppy unconditionally but the biggest thing I learned from them was how playful they were together, and they never stopped bickering and picking at each other. Also keep your man fed! How to be a strong-willed mother who didn’t cut anyone slack but did it out of love.
She could roll with the punches, too, though, and always knew when to pick her battles. You know it wasn’t easy raising 2 hellion boys and a daughter with downs syndrome in the 60’s and 70’s but she did it without batting an eye. And my favorite of all- what the unconditional love of grandma looks like. I loved going to my Bee’s house growing up and laying on her kitchen counter, watching tv, and getting loaded up with snacks. But she was also who I went to when I was too chicken to go to my parents. I knew she would always love me and never shame me no matter what There’s no doubt in my mind if she was born in later generation, she could have easily become a doctor. She always remembered every little thing medical-wise and could spit off medical terms like she studied it. She will be missed.