Death
By early 1970, Terrell had been forced to be confined to a wheelchair, suffered from blindness, hair loss and weighed a scant 93 lbs. Following her eighth and final operation on January 25, 1970, Terrell relapsed into a coma where she would remain for the next month and a half of her life.
On March 16, Terrell died of complications from brain cancer. She was six weeks short of her 25th birthday. Her funeral was held at the Jane Methodist Church in Philadelphia. At the funeral, Gaye delivered a final eulogy while "You're All I Need to Get By" was playing. According to Terrell's fiancé, Dr. Garrett, who knew Gaye, Terrell's mother allowed just Gaye at the funeral but told him that Terrell's other Motown colleagues would not be allowed in.
Read more about this topic: Tammi Terrell
Famous quotes containing the word death:
“Death is too much for men to bear, whereas women, who are practiced in bearing the deaths of men before their own and who are also practiced in bearing life, take death almost in stride. They go to meet death—that is, they attempt suicide—twice as often as men, though men are more “successful” because they use surer weapons, like guns.”
—Roger Rosenblatt (b. 1940)
“half-way up the hill, I see the Past
Lying beneath me with its sounds and sights,—
A city in the twilight dim and vast,
With smoking roofs, soft bells, and gleaming lights,—
And hear above me on the autumnal blast
The cataract of Death far thundering from the heights.”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1809–1882)
“The techniques of opening conversation are universal. I knew long ago and rediscovered that the best way to attract attention, help, and conversation is to be lost. A man who seeing his mother starving to death on a path kicks her in the stomach to clear the way, will cheerfully devote several hours of his time giving wrong directions to a total stranger who claims to be lost.”
—John Steinbeck (1902–1968)