Terry B. Wilson's Obituary
Terry Burton Wilson of Goodlettsville, Tennessee, departed this life for eternal glory on Monday, December 8, 2025, just short of his 87th birthday. He was born in Robertson County, Tennessee on December 11, 1938, to Samuel Burton Wilson and Annie Catheryne Babb Wilson. He was their only child.
In this life, he leaves behind children, Jon (Debbie) Wilson of Gallatin and Bronwyn Wilson (Nigel) of Lebanon. He was grandfather to Jeremy Wilson (Susannah) of Blacksburg, VA, Annalea Wilson of Lebanon and Jack Celatka of Spring Hill. He was preceded in death by his parents and loving wife of 63 years, Sybil Chloe Tillery Wilson.
He was raised to respect God, country, family and hard work. These were the tenets he lived by.
After graduating from Cohn High School in 1956, he attended David Lipscomb and Vanderbilt universities and served in the Tennessee Air National Guard. He moved to Huntsville to work as a draftsman and surveyor during the expansion of the NASA space program. He often recalled long hours spent designing part of the launch pad for the Saturn moon rockets. Somehow during these busy years, he found time to date a secretary at Redstone Arsenal; she became the love of his life, and they were married in 1962. He moved to work at Dupont in Old Hickory and the young family moved to White House, then Goodlettsville. After a long career at Dupont, he had a second one with the State of Tennessee and often spoke happily of his many friends at both. He loved his adopted hometown of Goodlettsville, where he and Sybil would raise their children among neighbors and friends and face good times and bad together for the rest of their lives.
His family remembers him as being notably thrifty; this motivated him as an amateur handyman, gardener and mechanic – and occasionally frustrated his family. Terry was a voracious reader, particularly of history. He read to his children and grandchildren and worked to instill a love of learning in them. He shared books constantly and when you gifted him a volume you never knew where it would end up.
Along with Sybil he was a faithful member of the Goodlettsville Church of Christ for over 60 years. He was known to generations of God’s people as a faithful servant, a deacon and Sunday school teacher and even church bus driver. He actively supported the church’s mission works and even traveled to Mexico on a mission trip.
As his health deteriorated, Sybil was his caregiver, chauffeur, and constant companion. When she passed from this life a year ago he did not despair but spoke of her with loving admiration, quiet confidence in their reunion, and his readiness to rejoin her on heaven’s shore. That wish has now been fulfilled.
In lieu of flowers, the family encourages you to donate to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital or to the Goodlettsville Church of Christ mission program in remembrance of a couple who lived, loved and served in the sunshine of God’s love.
Arrangements entrusted to Spring Hill Funeral Home and Cemetery, 5110 Gallatin Pike, Nashville, TN 37216, 615-865-1101, https://www.springhillfh.com.
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