Grand Haven Mens Golf Assoc.

Terry was born in Bridgeport CT and lived there until age 10 when his parents bought their first and only house in neighboring Fairfield. Sports activity in the early years was limited to stickball in the street and basketball in a driveway of someone who had a net. He finished grammar school at St Augustine in Bridgeport even though getting home after school was no longer a walk but rather a walk followed by two bus rides.

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He attended high school at Fairfield Prep which, as its name implies, was dedicated to preparing students for admission to college. There was a serious emphasis upon discipline, academics and sports at the school. Terry did quite well on the academic side of things and also was a four year member of the football team, although sitting out sophomore season after sustaining a broken ankle in an early season game. In the varsity years he was the “opposition team guard” in daily practices. That only becomes significant because the first team center and guard opposite him each received scholarships for football at Virginia and Boston College respectively. OUCH!!. After high school Terry was accepted at Holy Cross College in Worcester MA where he earned a B.A. degree in economics (the dismal science) in 1963.

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In the first four years after college Terry had 3 different jobs (all voluntary departures) before finding his career job at Sikorsky Aircraft Division of United Technologies. Over a period of 32 years he worked in Strategic Planning, Government Product Support and Program Management. In the early years, in addition to a demanding work schedule, he was able to finish a MA degree in Economics in the evenings at the University of Bridgeport. After that, in addition to his Sikorsky work, he was an adjunct professor at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield.

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Strategic Planning was a staff department working directly for the “head shed” of the company and therefore provided a lot of exposure. A plum job Terry had was to prepare a monthly report on the budget status of each of the Program Managers who reported to the Exec VP. He claims that is how he became so tactful. The move to Government Product Support came as an outgrowth of the planning work he had done in support of the VP of that department. He moved to bring to fruition the plans that he had helped develop. One interesting aspect of those plans was the creation of a new Subsidiary of Sikorsky called Sikorsky Support Services (SSI). Shortly thereafter SSI won the US Army contract to maintain all the helicopters at Ft. Rucker, the Army’s training base for pilots.

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The final assignment Terry had was by far the most interesting and challenging. He became the Sikorsky Program Business Manager for the Comanche Program. Comanche was the US Army’s largest development program. It was structured so that the four helicopter manufacturers in the US could compete for the eventual contract award to develop the first stealth reconnaissance/ attack helicopter. Sikorsky was teamed with Boeing while Bell Helicopter was teamed with McDonnell Douglas. In October 1988 both teams were given contracts to develop their concepts and in April 1991, the Army chose the Boeing-Sikorsky team as the winner of a $2.8 billion contract for development and construction of their RAH-66 prototypes. Two RAH-66 prototypes were constructed and underwent flight testing between 1996 and 2004. In late 1999 Sikorsky offered an early retirement opportunity and Terry, at the ripe old age of 58, departed the company in February of 2000. 

 

It was during his high school years that Terry met Mary Sullivan who would become his wife and life partner. They were married in September 1962.  They have a family of seven sons and thirteen grandchildren. The boys are spread around the US with three in Fairfield, two in Sonoma County CA, one in Conifer CO, and one in Spokane WA. 

After retiring, Terry kept busy with various real estate projects and was also hired as a consultant back at Sikorsky. It was a great arrangement that provided time for golf as well as work. He and Mary bought a new condo at Sea Trail Plantation (3 eighteen-hole courses) in Sunset Beach NC in 2004 as a second home. In 2011 they sold their Fairfield home, put the furniture in storage, and moved to NC to figure out the next phase of life. Thankfully, they had discovered Grand Haven while on an exploratory trip to Florida in 2010 and they returned in October 2011 and purchased their Grand Haven home. They are still “snow birds”, returning to Fairfield for the summer months, but always very happy to return HOME to GH.