Terry is a native of Birmingham, Alabama. After college at the University of Alabama, where she majored in art, she and her husband made their home in Anniston. Her family took all of her time for many years, but in the 1980s she returned to art. She has studied with Charles Reid, Les Yarbrough, and Wayne Spradley among others, and she had a successful one person show at St. Vincent's hospital in Birmingham in 2004. Her work can be seen currently at The Magnolia Tree in Auburn and at Art Works, a co-op gallery in Anniston. She is a Signature Member of the Watercolor Society of Alabama, and is an active member of the Visual Arts Society at Jacksonville State University.