I had first found out about Ms. Terry and her comic strip creation, Teena, back in early 1993. I was perusing old microfilm reels of old issues of the Omaha World Herald from the 50′ and ’60s at the main library there (I’ve lived in Council Bluffs, IA since late 1990) and just happened to stumble across a panel or two which they published in the Sunday Magazine of the Midlands from 1944 to 1964. The character caught my attention and I started looking up more of the old strips in more reels.

I really came to love Teena and decided to try a search in Who’s Who of American Women, where I found she was still living and the book gave her address. I enthusiastically sat down and wrote her, and, prior to the call, she sent me a nice response along with some copies of stories on her and her husband, a copy of a Teena strip that I told her was missing from one of the Omaha film reels by date, and an autographed copy of her book “Strange Bod Fellows”. I mentioned in my letter that I had an idea for an animated feature film featuring the characters from the strip and even mentioned whom I’d have loved to have cast in the voice roles. She told me she knew another person who was interested in animating her, but she was doubtful it would work today.

This was around the time of the baseball strike, so I was compelled to get her thoughts on the matter since she had a connection with the sport. I found that part of the phone conversation difficult to follow, but I managed somehow.

The brief time we connected will go down as one of the best memories of my life in the ’90s…and certainly one of the better moments of 1994, a year that was also marred by a couple of decidedly low points I hit, which I won’t discuss here.

A much-belated farewell to you, Hilda Terry. Though I may have discovered you and your talent much later than others closer to you, you left an indelible mark on my years here, for which I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Thanks -

Greg Osen

I found her personal philosophies on life and death, and creativity, to be quite fascinating, even if I didn’t always agree with her on certain points. After I wrote that article, we kept in touch on and off. I like to think I was a friend to her in her latter years. We would talk about her views on reincarnation and past lives. She believed a spirit from hundreds of years ago acted as a kind of muse for her when she worked on TEENA, and later in life, she made repeated attempts to contact that spirit. It may sound odd, but for her it confirmed her long-held belief that creativity comes from without, and that all we as artists do is take from what’s in nature and bring it to life through whatever our given mediums may be. I don’t know how much I ever fully believed this, but it gave me serious food for thought, especially hearing her talk about it.

Hilda enjoyed life, and stayed active creatively. It was one of her primary ongoing goals to craft an online archive for the works of deceased artists – her “cemetery in cyberspace,” she called it. It was important to her to have the legacies of creative people endure in some fashion. I don’t know for sure, but I suspect she didn’t get very far on it, which is unfortunate, because I do know how much it meant to her.

The last time I saw her would’ve been last winter. She was still teaching at the Art Students League here in NYC, and her class had an exhibit which I attended. Afterwards we had dinner. She certainly looked frail, but not that much moreso than any of the other times I’d seen her. I was out of work at the time and she insisted on paying. Now that I’m working, I had hoped to return the favor eventually. Guess I won’t.

Wherever you are now, Hilda, thank you for the gift of your friendship, your wit and wisdom. I know I certainly won’t forget you.