Theresa was born as Theresa Sinclair on July 3, 1925 in New York City in Greenwich Village. Her family soon moved to Brooklyn, where she grew up. She was the 3rd child of Charles & Mae Sinclair, who would eventually have 5 children all together.
Theresa’s family was poor but surrounded by a very large extended family on both sides. When she was 17, her father passed away. Since he was the provider for the family, Theresa left school to begin working full time to help support the family. One of her favorite jobs was as an elevator operator for Radio City Music Hall. She loved talking about shepherding celebrities up and down in her elevator backstage. She also revealed that while the ballerinas in the shows looked so light and graceful on stage, they sounded like a herd of elephants beneath the stage!
As a teenager hanging out in the neighborhood, she became familiar with a tall boy named Bill Cobb when she was 16. He took her for a hot chocolate one cold winter evening and that was that! They “kept company” for the next 9 years. Terry & Bill were married on June 4, 1950.
A daughter Janet arrived in 1953 and a son Billy in 1956. The growing family was living in an apartment in Brooklyn, when Bill decided he wanted to go into business in Point Pleasant, NJ. He became a general contractor in 1958 and even built the house the family would live in.
In 1961, another daughter, Nancy, arrived and now the family was complete. Terry kept busy tending to the children and the house and helping Bill run his business.
Grandchildren began arriving in 1982. Terry loved being a Nana. She ended up having 8 grandchildren who all adored her. She now has 4 great grandchildren also.
When Terry & Bill entered their 90s, the family began to talk about finding an assisted living situation and the decision was made to move to Texas. On December 29, 2014, Bill and Terry said goodbye to their home of 56 years in Point Pleasant and flew away to Texas.
Sadly, Bill fell 6 months later and never fully recovered. He passed away on January 14, 2016. Terry had continued to live on her own in assisted living and then memory care. She became seriously ill with pneumonia on December 1 but was not able to fight it off. She passed away peacefully on December 7 with her 3 children by her side.
