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Terese Ranee
Stewart slipped easily and gracefully into the world and the arms of adoring parents on January 16, 1963. Her American Indian blood was evident in her
high cheekbones, rich skin coloring and shock of dark hair.
Mary knew early in her pregnancy that she would have a baby girl, even
without the benefit of the scientific tests that are a staple of pre-natal care today.
Four hours after Mary's initial labor pain, the doctor said "it's a girl, and she's
perfect," confirming her intuition, and propelling her onto the emotional
rollercoaster called parenting.
Terese was born into an America of seemingly limitless possibilities and
unbridled optimism. The middle class that burgeoned after World War II had attained a
standard of living that few in the previous generation even dared dream, and ensuring that
their kids had a better start in life than they'd had was a common thread in the national
fabric. It was a time when technology evolved at breakneck pace, and society couldn't keep
up. Gender roles were blurring, to the chagrin of many, and African Americans grew weary
of second-class citizenship. The early visionaries of the civil rights and feminist
movements were finding their voices. On the one hand, it was a time of innocence and
wonder, but it was also a period of questioning convention, and testing societal
boundaries, challenging our nation to live up to its founding principles so that every
citizen could share in the American Dream or be torn apart.
An impish, inquisitive and loving child, with a wisdom and self-reliance
beyond her years, it seemed as though it never occurred to Terese that she couldn't
do anything she wanted, and Mary supported her in this notion. When she was five, she
began picking out melodies on the piano. Although a local piano teacher told Mary that she
usually didn't teach children until they'd first learned to read, she agreed to evaluate
her readiness. Terese was a natural. By age eight, she accompanied the church organist at
least once a month, and she played to the sheer delight of family and friends at their
gatherings.
In the weeks after her brother Shane's birth
when she was four, Mary watched Terese for any indication of the jealousy she thought she
might feel, but Terese showed no signs of feeling neglected by her parent's attention to
her new sibling. Mary attributed Terese's easy acceptance of her baby brother to the
relationship she'd built with two playmates in the neighborhood who were an important part
of her world. Those relationships contributed to her growing independence. Terese and
Shane formed an unshakeable bond which only grew stronger as they matured.
Identified as a mentally gifted minor in
elementary school, Terese enjoyed school projects and after-school activities such as swim
classes, Bobby Sox softball, tennis lessons, Youth Science Museum excursions, Sunday School, and church. She
excelled in absolutely everything she tried. By the seventh grade, she had a paper route,
and discovered she liked earning money.
She became interested in horses in the eighth
grade, when she got her first horse. She tackled the horse world with an energy and
passion uncommon in someone so young. She sought training, then taught others what she'd
mastered. She bought and sold horses. As a rider on the show circuit, she won countless
ribbons.
Terese's parents divorced when she was 15.
Though her parents were not an aguing couple, she had been aware of their growing
differences. She identified with her mother's need to break out of the stifling
limitations of women's roles in which she felt trapped. But a year after the divorce, as
Mary was engrossed in completing her Master's Degree and transitioning from
homemaker/housewife to autonomous business woman, Terese asked her mother for permission
to live with her trainer near the stables where she worked, because of her increasingly
demanding schedule. Mary granted her request, determined not to make the mistakes her
father made with her: forbidding choices, being over-controlling and not letting go as
needed. Mary ached that her first-born was leaving the nest so young, but she refused to
block what Terese saw as a necessary step toward adulthood.
An excellent student, Terese's world
until the age of 19 revolved around home, school, horses, and her circle of friends from
the stables and show circuit. By age 18, she had reached her goal of financial
self-sufficiency in the horse business, and was respected by her peers in that world.
Terese turned to her mother for advice when she
was 20, when a dip in the nation's economy and a recession in the horse world forced her
to look at other employment options. Mary encouraged her to take some time off to rest and
have fun, since her lifehad been crammed full of work and study for years. She took
Mary’s advice, and moved back in with her mother as she considered her options.
It was a happy reunion for them both. They worked out at the gym together,
Terese’s friends visited often, and they were pals again.
Terese had thought since
junior high that one day she might like to be a veterinarian. She loved all animals, and
had worked closely with vets in her horse work, and served as a veterinary assistant in
high school. She researched veterinary programs, and, after a few months, decided to move
to Sacramento to finish her community college studies there
before transferring to the Veterinary School at the University of California-Davis campus.
A short time after Terese moved to Sacramento, Mary sensed something was very wrong.
Terese’s contacts with home grew infrequent, and she was rarely reachable by phone.
She told Mary she’d found work as a bartender, raising Mary’s suspicions and
fears that she was experimenting with alcohol and/or
drugs.
After a year, Terese called her mother and
indicated she wanted to move back near her family. Soon after her return, she again became
evasive. Her mother knew very little about street drugs or alcohol abuse, and
Terese’s repeated denials that she was “using” caused Mary to believe that
her daughter’s increasingly erratic behavior was caused by emotional problems, so she
encouraged her to enter therapy. Terese
attended a few sessions, but the counselor failed to diagnose her real problem. Four years
later, after many naïve efforts by Mary to help Terese through what she believed were
problems of a psychological nature, Terese was arrested for being under the influence of
an illegal substance.
Terese’s phone call to her mother from
jail began her journey back to the person she really was. She was released from jail on
the condition that she live with her mother and enter drug treatment. Terese’s health
and well-being became Mary’s primary focus, and she participated in the family group
sessions at the outpatient drug treatment facility. Mary learned the necessity of
“tough love” in dealing with chemically dependent loved ones, and Terese tested
her love and her toughness through several emotional storms and crises during the ensuing
months. As Mary developed the ability to be tough as well as supportive, they began to
repair the holes in their relationship left by Mary’s previous "parenting
flaws."
Nearly two years into recovery and away from
the drug scene, Terese was back in the work force full -time while learning computer
programming from John Wesley, who entered their lives in 1990. Mary helped her purchase a
new pickup truck, and she moved into her own apartment. She was hungry for friends, but
her recent poor choices made her cautious. She reached out to friends from whom she’d
become estranged during her “drug years” and began mending the damaged
relationships. Once again, Terese's music had a healing influence, adding to the joy of
friendly gatherings by providing piano accompaniment as they sang. Shane shared his
sister's interest in music and had become an accomplished musician and songwriter in his
own right. Their
mutual love of music only reinforced their bond.
Terese pursued her studies in computer
programming with the same fervor so obvious in her other activities and interests, and it
wasn't long before her abilities surpassed those of her teacher. Her entrepreneurial
instincts told her that she could make a good living writing software programs, but it was
difficult to focus on building a software business while working full-time for someone
else in order to keep a roof over her head. She again turned to Mary, and asked if she
could quit her job and move in with Mary in order to devote her total attention to
developing her programming business.
Mary's home had a "granny apartment"
off the main house, which would give Terese her own space within the residence, and she
was delighted to have Terese live with her. When John Wesley began working as Mary's
financial advisor, he persuaded Mary to start a computer rental and training center as an
investment, with Terese's programming business as an offshoot. Mary and Terese were
enthusiastic about the idea of creating a financial future together through a business
partnership, with each business augmenting the other. Terese worked hard developing an
accounting program specific to mental health/psychotherapy practices like her mother's,
which was only two hours from completion at the time of her death.
It was Terese who first
suspected the Wesley's motives and warned Mary about them. While her mother clung to her
midwestern belief that people are basically good, and act honorably, Terese had walked on
the "dark side" and knew that opportunists often cloaked themselves in the garb
of friendship to manipulate and take advantage of the unsuspecting and vulnerable. She set
out to protect her mother from the Wesleys' duplicitous activities. It may well have cost
Terese her life.
[ Home ] [ Terese Ranee Stewart ] [ Justice for Terese Part 1 ] [ Recent Developments ] [ Police Incompetence? ] [ Judicial Failures ] [ Protect & Serve? ] [ Helpful Links ] [ How You Can Help ]
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